Tackling off-channel communications? Don’t forget ephemeral messaging

As if creating policies and procedures to handle employee use of off-channel communications is not difficult enough, there is a subset of channels that can be even more nettlesome: ephemeral messaging.

Ephemeral messaging platforms are apps and electronic communication channels where messages are automatically deleted after a set time. Examples include WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, and Signal.

Some ephemeral communications apps, like WhatsApp, also feature end-to-end encryption, which can make it difficult to recover messages in transit. Both the automatic deletion and encryption features of these apps complicate the recovery of evidence during a corporate internal investigation or when complying with a request for information or subpoena.