Elon Musk Is Building X Chat — His Answer to WhatsApp and Telegram

Elon Musk is preparing to launch X Chat, a new messaging app designed to compete directly with WhatsApp and Telegram. The billionaire says the platform will feature Bitcoin-like encryption and will never sell user data to advertisers. Musk Reveals the Project on Joe Rogan’s Podcast Speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience , Musk revealed that his team had completely rebuilt the messaging system inside the X platform to create a new standalone app. “We use a peer-to-peer encryption system similar to Bitcoin’s. It’s very secure encryption, which we thoroughly test,” Musk said. The app is expected to launch in the coming months. Musk emphasized that X Chat will not include any “advertising hooks,” setting it apart from competitors that rely heavily on user data for ad targeting. Musk’s Criticism of WhatsApp Musk took aim at WhatsApp, claiming the service “knows enough about your messages to show you relevant ads.” “If a service knows enough to display ads, hackers can use the same hooks to read private messages,” he warned. WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta*, denies this, asserting that messages are protected by end-to-end encryption via the Signal protocol. However, the company’s policy on data sharing between Meta platforms remains vague, stating only that it “works with other Meta companies to improve and support each other’s services.” Musk’s Promise of a Secure and Ad-Free Future Musk insists that X Chat will avoid these pitfalls. “I’m not saying the system will be perfect, but our goal is to replace Twitter’s old private messaging with a fully encrypted system. It will allow users to send text, files, and make audio and video calls,” he explained. According to Musk, X Chat aims to be “the least insecure of all messengers.” The app will be available both as part of the X platform and as a standalone download.