January 4, 2023: An Amazon-owned encrypted chat medium known as Wickr Me stopped accepting new users after December 31 and shut down fully on December 31 of 2022, information from the firm stated.

The talk came out in November after several debates surrounding the ultra-secure chat app, allowing users to sign up without a phone number or other potentially identifying information, creating it a favourite for security-minded groups, including hackers, drug dealers and journalists.

In June, an investigation revealed that Wickr Me had evolved the easiest product for many who sold child sexual abuse material. The study identified 72 court cases from the previous five years in which the defendant used Wickr to sell child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement officials and a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children representative told at the time that Wickr wasn’t doing enough detecting or reporting the trading of such material on its platform.

In a statement in June, an Amazon Web Services spokesperson said, “Amazon is committing to preventing child sexual abuse material in every segment of our firms, which include Wickr, maintaining strict Terms of Use that prohibit the illegal movement.

We act quickly on reports of illegal behaviour, respond immediately to requests from law enforcement, and take the appropriate actions. Anyone found to violate our terms is subject to account termination.”

“Wickr responds appropriately to, and collaborates with, law enforcement on these critical matters,” the spokesperson said.

In its statement in November, the firm explained that it was closing down Wickr Me to devote resources and focus on its business-to-business products, AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise. The post did not mention its interaction with government agencies, which include the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.