• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, April 24, 2017

The messaging app Confide, reportedly a favorite of some Trump administration staffers, doesn't keep messages as private as advertised, according to a new lawsuit.

Michigan resident Jeremy Auman, who says he paid $6.99 a month for Confide's messaging service, alleges in a class-action complaint that the app's privacy features don't always work.

Confide says on its Web site that it blocks screenshots where possible, and takes other steps to protect messages where blocking isn't realistic. "Our patent-pending reading experience ensures that only a sliver of the message is unveiled at a time and that the sender's name is not visible," the company says. "We also kick the recipient out of the message and notify the sender that a screenshot has been attempted."

But Auman says the blocking features don't work on the Windows version of the app. He also alleges that the Mac and Windows desktop versions of Confide don't notify senders when recipients attempt to take screenshots.

Additionally, Confide "did not program either version of the desktop app to hide the sender’s name or to otherwise obscure the content of the messages," the lawsuit alleges.

"Ultimately, and despite Confide’s promises, the App does not prevent screenshots of messages (or pictures or videos) sent through the App -- whether taken via an operating system’s internal screenshot mechanism or camera photography," the complaint alleges. "As a result, Confide’s promises of ephemerality are rendered false. Message recipients can easily create permanent records of the purportedly secured messages."

The lawsuit claims that Confide violated New York laws regarding false advertising and unfair business practices. 

Confide president Jon Brod says the allegations are "unfounded and without merit." 

"We look forward to responding this frivolous complaint and seeing this case swiftly thrown out of court," he says in an email to MediaPost

Confide isn't the only company to face questions over the security of its messaging service. Several years ago, the Federal Trade Commission brought an enforcement action againt Snapchat for allegedly deceiving users by promising their "snaps" would disappear after they were viewed.

In that matter, the FTC alleged that Snapchat's automatic deletion feature didn't work when people access the service through outside apps. Even after a security researcher alerted Snapchat to the problem, the company continued to promise people that their photos and videos would disappear within seconds of being viewed, the FTC alleged.

Snapchat settled that matter by agreeing to develop a privacy program, and to undergo privacy audits for 20 years. The company also promised to avoid misrepresentations in its privacy policy.