“Aussie police officers and FBI agents came up with the idea to run the platform while having some after-work beers in 2018.” First they tapped the keg. Then they tapped some phones. And someone should buy them a few more rounds, because a plot to use a messaging app to track criminals has led to the arrest hundreds of organized crime figures around the world. (In the end, oversharing will take us all down.)

+ “You had to know a criminal to get hold of one of these customized phones. The phones couldn’t ring or email. You could only communicate with someone on the same platform.”

+ “Australian police have told local media that the man who unwittingly helped to distribute the FBI-run encrypted messaging app was a fugitive named Hakan Ayik.
Alleged to be a drugs kingpin himself, officials say Mr Ayik was identified as a key influencer and given access by undercover agents to a handset which he then recommended to other criminal associates.” (An influencer used to take down people who couldn’t resist using a hot, new app. This is the metaphor that never stops giving.)