Judge should order governor to stop using ephemeral messaging app, lawyers say

Enlarge / Missouri Governor Eric Greitens addresses a crowd at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery on February 22, 2017 in University City, Missouri. (credit: Michael Thomas / Getty Images)

Two Missouri lawyers have sued the governor's office over its use of Confide, an ephemeral messaging mobile app, which they say is in violation of state public records law.

The two men are set to appear before a county judge on Friday to ask for a temporary restraining order that would bar current and future use of such apps by the governor and his staff. Lawyers representing Governor Eric Greitens say that such a move is unwarranted.

Confide, like Signal and other popular encrypted-messaging apps, auto-deletes messages after a certain period of time, making automated record-keeping of those messages very difficult, if not impossible. Use of such apps by public employees for official business is almost certain to run afoul of transparency laws.

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