Written by: Merilee Kern, MBA • March 13, 2025• Lifestyle

The Digital Privacy Paradox: Encrypted Messaging App ‘Session’ Solves What Others Won’t

Interview with Kee Jefferys: The Visionary Resolving Big Tech’s Failure to Fully Protect Your Privacy

In the past decade, instant messaging has become the backbone of modern communication, seamlessly connecting billions of users worldwide. From casual conversations to mission-critical business discussions, these platforms are deeply embedded in our daily lives. However, as their user bases have soared, so have concerns about privacy and security. Many of the most popular messaging apps, despite offering encryption, still expose users to significant privacy risks. The issue isn’t just about securing message content—it’s about the vast amount of metadata these platforms collect.

Metadata, which includes details like IP addresses, phone numbers, social graphs, and interaction patterns, can be just as revealing as the messages themselves. For journalists, activists, and privacy-conscious users, this kind of data exposure is a serious threat.

That’s where Session comes in. Designed to combat metadata surveillance at every level, Session provides a truly private messaging experience. With anonymous signups, a decentralized infrastructure, and advanced encryption layered with onion routing, Session ensures that users send messages—not metadata.

To dive deeper into how Session is reshaping secure communication, we spoke with Session Co-Founder Kee Jefferys. In this exclusive interview, Kee sheds light on the urgent need for metadata-resistant messaging, the challenges of building a decentralized platform, and what the future holds for privacy-focused technology.

Q: Kee, can you start by explaining what Session is and what inspired its creation?

Jefferys: Absolutely. Session is an open-source, privacy-focused messaging app designed to provide secure, decentralized communication with complete anonymity. Unlike mainstream messaging platforms, Session doesn’t require a phone number or email to sign up, ensuring user privacy from the outset. It was created in response to the growing concerns over data collection, metadata exposure, and centralized control over communication platforms. With Session, users can send messages without worrying about their information being logged, tracked, or exploited.

Q: You cite Session is open-source. How does this contribute to its security and trustworthiness?

Jefferys: Being open-source allows public scrutiny and independent audits for security validation. Anyone can examine the code, ensuring transparency and accountability. This builds trust and ensures the app functions as advertised.

Q: You emphasize features like “send messages, not metadata,” “no phone number or email required” and “no metadata, no logs.” What exactly does that mean, and why is it so important? How does this work in practice?

Jefferys: Many popular messaging apps, even those with end-to-end encryption, collect vast amounts of metadata. This includes things like your IP address, phone number, who you’re talking to, and when. This metadata can be just as revealing as the message content itself. Session is designed to minimize metadata creation and leakage at every step. Session users can have confidence that their conversations are truly private.

When you sign up for Session, your device generates a cryptographically secure Account ID. This ID is your contact information, and no personal information is required to create it. Session also uses a decentralized network of storage servers and onion routing to route and store your messages This means that even Session developers don’t have access to your data or metadata.

Q: You mention a decentralized network with over 2,200 nodes. Can you explain how this network operates and why it’s crucial for privacy?

Jefferys: Session uses a network of nodes to route and temporarily store messages. These nodes are operated by community members all around the world. Messages are stored across this distributed network, making it extremely difficult for any single party to access or censor user data. This decentralization is essential for true censorship resistance.

Q: What makes Session different from other messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal?

Jefferys: Session differs significantly because it provides complete anonymity. Unlike WhatsApp, which collects metadata and user data linked to phone numbers, Session requires no phone number or email. Relative to Telegram. Session offers enhanced anonymity with its no phone number requirement, whereas Telegram links accounts to phone numbers and has been known to share user data with third parties. Additionally, Telegram’s default chats aren’t end-to-end encrypted, while all Session messages are encrypted. Session doesn’t even have access to that personal info. Regarding Signal, it’s certainly a strong privacy app, but it still requires a phone number or email address and collects minimal metadata (such as last connection time). Session removes these requirements entirely and runs on a decentralized infrastructure rather than centralized servers.

So, Session is fundamentally different from other encrypted messenger apps in these three key ways:

First, there is no usage of real-world personal identifiers. While WhatsApp and Signal require phone numbers and Telegram requires a phone number, Session operates entirely without them. Users create an Account ID, which is completely detached from their real-world identity.

Second is decentralization. Most messaging apps, including Signal and Telegram, rely on centralized servers that can become single points of failure. Session, however, operates on a decentralized network of over 2,200 community operated nodes, making it resistant to censorship and breaches.

With Session, there is also no metadata collection. Many encrypted messengers still collect metadata—such as social graphs, IP addresses, or number of messages sent—which can be used to infer user behavior. Session minimizes metadata exposure, ensuring that even Session developers don’t know who’s talking to who.

Q: How does Session ensure true anonymity and security for its users?

Jefferys: Session uses several privacy-preserving technologies to protect users. First, messages are end-to-end encrypted, ensuring only the intended recipient can read them. Second, the app uses an onion routing protocol, meaning messages are encrypted and relayed through multiple nodes before reaching their destination, masking sender and receiver IP addresses. Finally, because Session developers don’t have the ability to centrally collect server logs or metadata, there’s simply nothing to hand over, even if a request were made.

Q: How does Session protect against surveillance or information collection by the actual individual node operators?

Jefferys: All Session messages are onion-routed through the network. Every encrypted message is routed through three nodes, while in transit the nodes Onion routing the message cannot see any message content or metadata because the message is encrypted. When the message arrives at its destination it remains end-to -end encrypted to the intended recipient. Practically speaking, this splits up metadata so no single node ever knows the sender and recipient of a message

Q: You mention that Session is a tool for protecting free speech, including for journalists and activists. Can you elaborate on this? And, who can benefit most from using Session?

Jefferys: While Session is for anyone who values privacy, it’s particularly useful for journalists, activists, and individuals working in civil society who need secure, untraceable communications. Many messaging apps expose users to surveillance and tracking, which can be dangerous in sensitive situations. Session removes those risks, providing a truly private communication channel. In environments where surveillance and censorship are prevalent, Session provides a safe space for communication. Session’s focus on reducing creation and collection points for metadata, and its decentralized infrastructure ensures that users can communicate freely without fear of being tracked or monitored.

Q: Session is operated by the non-profit Session Technology Foundation. What motivated this non-profit structure?

Jefferys: The Session Technology Foundation is a Swiss based foundation that oversees the development and maintenance of Session. It ensures that the app remains open-source, transparent, and aligned with its mission of protecting user privacy. Unlike many tech companies that monetize user data, Session is dedicated solely to privacy and security. A core value of Session is putting user privacy first. A Swiss based foundation structure allows Session developers and contributors to focus on Session’s mission without the pressures of a “for profit” structure, which can encourage user data exploitation.

Q: What are some of the main issues with centralized messaging platforms?

Jefferys: Centralized messaging apps have significant vulnerabilities. They rely on servers controlled by a single entity, making them susceptible to hacking, data breaches and requests for user information from third parties. As an example, a central server is hacked, massive amounts of user metadata can be exposed. Even with end-to-end encryption, many centralized apps collect metadata, which can reveal communication patterns. Session eliminates these risks.

Q: What’s your stance on metadata collection, and why is it a concern?

Jefferys: Metadata is often overlooked, but it’s one of the biggest privacy threats today. Even if a messaging service encrypts message content, metadata—such as who is messaging who, when, and how often—can be extremely revealing. Governments, corporations, and hackers can analyze metadata to track movements, map social graphs, and infer behaviors. Session’s core mission is to eliminate metadata collection entirely, ensuring no traces are left behind.

Q: What role do community members play in keeping Session decentralized?

Jefferys: Decentralization is only possible with community involvement. The Session network relies on nodes run by individuals across the world to store and route messages. By operating nodes, users help maintain a censorship-resistant infrastructure that ensures no single entity can control or compromise the network.

Q: Finally, what is your vision for the future of Session and privacy in messaging and communication?

Jefferys: The demand for privacy-first communication is growing as more people recognize the risks of data surveillance. The future lies in decentralized, metadata-minimizing solutions like Session. Session developers and contributors are committed to evolving and improving Session platform to meet these needs while staying true to the mission of providing secure, anonymous messaging for all. Session aims to create a world where online communication is truly private and secure. Privacy is a fundamental right, and Session is a step towards restoring user control over their data, empowering individuals to communicate freely without fear of surveillance or censorship.

Q: I understand your company is releasing a new token called $SESH—can you explain what this is and why a messaging app needs a token?

Jefferys: Absolutely. $SESH, or Session Token, is the backbone of the Session network. Unlike other messaging apps like Signal or Telegram, which rely on centralized servers, Session is decentralized. To keep this network running smoothly, there needs to be incentives for people to operate Session Nodes. That’s where $SESH comes in.

$SESH serves three primary functions within the Session network. First, it is required to run Session Nodes, as operators must stake $SESH to participate in storing and routing messages. Second, it acts as an incentive mechanism, rewarding node operators with $SESH for their contributions to maintaining the network. Finally, $SESH enables premium features, allowing users to burn tokens in exchange for benefits such as increased storage, faster routing speeds, and access to Session Pro.

By integrating $SESH, the Session network fuels its own a sustainability, decentralization, and censorship-resistant qualities.

Q: How does staking $SESH improve the security of the network?

Jefferys: Staking is crucial because it aligns economic incentives. When operators stake $SESH, they become economically aligned with the network’s success. If they act maliciously or fail to meet performance standards, they can be penalized. This makes it much harder for any single entity to control a large portion of the network.

Q: What differentiates $SESH from other blockchain-based tokens?

Jefferys: The key difference is that Session already has real users—over 1 million monthly active users. Many blockchain projects struggle with adoption, but Session is already solving a real problem for real people. When you stake $SESH, you’re directly contributing to privacy and security by supporting the routing and storage of encrypted messages.

Q: You mentioned premium features. How do users benefit from $SESH without engaging with crypto directly?

Jefferys: That’s an important point. Not everyone wants to interact with crypto, and I believe Session shouldn’t create a barrier between crypto and non-crypto users when engaging with premium features. One of the solutions here is to enable users to be able to pay for premium features like Session Pro and Session Name Service with fiat currency via third-party providers. These providers then convert the payment into $SESH and burn it on the user’s behalf. This ensures that the network remains sustainable while keeping the experience seamless for non-crypto users

Q: What role does $SESH play in scaling Session?

Jefferys: The system is designed to adjust dynamically based on demand. When more users join Session and purchase premium features, more tokens are burned and reminted into the Session Rewards Pool. This increases rewards for node operators collectively, encouraging more nodes to join and strengthen the network. If demand drops, the network contracts accordingly. Higher node rewards mean better network performance and scalability, creating a positive feedback loop that benefits all users.

Q: You’re also transitioning from Oxen to Session Token on Arbitrum. Why the move?

Jefferys: The transition to Arbitrum is about efficiency, scalability, and branding. When Oxen was started in 2018, the goal was to build a full privacy stack, including private transactions, a decentralized network, and private applications like Session and Lokinet. Over time, we saw that people engaged more with Session and Lokinet than with Oxen as a cryptocurrency.

Managing a Layer 1 blockchain is costly, and migrating to Arbitrum streamlines the ecosystem. Arbitrum offers lower fees, strong decentralization, and deep integration with Ethereum, making it a natural fit for Session.

Q: How will the migration work for existing users and node operators?

Jefferys: The migration is designed to be as smooth as possible, with two key programs facilitating the process. The Service Node Bonus Program rewards existing Service Node operators with points that will convert into $SESH at the Token Generation Event (TGE). Additionally, the Oxen Claims Bridge provides a simple interface for users to swap Oxen for $SESH. To further ensure a seamless experience, several test migrations are being conducted before the full transition and TGE day.

Q: What’s the long-term vision for Session and $SESH?

Jefferys: The goal is to prove that privacy-first messaging can compete with mainstream platforms. I personally see success as surpassing Signal’s ~40 million monthly active users within the next 12–24 months. More users means a stronger network and a more sustainable Session ecosystem.

At the same time, Session contributors are focused on growing the Session node network. A larger, more distributed network means greater security and true decentralization. The next few months will be exciting for both Session and $SESH.

In an era where instant messaging has become ubiquitous, our reliance on these platforms has surged, handling everything from casual chats to critical business communications. With billions of users flocking to popular messengers, one would assume that our digital conversations are secure. However, a closer look reveals a troubling reality: despite the promise of end-to-end encryption, these platforms often fall short when it comes to safeguarding our privacy.

While some, like WhatsApp, have touted their encryption protocols as a shield against prying eyes, the truth is far more nuanced. Simply encrypting message content fails to address the insidious issue of metadata collection. Companies operating these services continue to amass vast amounts of information about our messaging activities, including IP addresses, phone numbers, social graphs, and network connections. This metadata, often overlooked, can be just as revealing as the messages themselves, posing a significant threat to journalists, activists, and anyone concerned about their digital footprint.

The Session messaging app is designed to confront this growing risk head-on. Built on the principle of minimizing metadata creation and leakage, Session leverages anonymous sign-ups, decentralized infrastructure, and robust encryption protocols to ensure users send messages, not metadata.

In a world increasingly defined by surveillance and data breaches, Session offers a glimpse into a future where privacy is not a luxury, but a fundamental right.

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Merilee Kern, MBA, Founder of The Luxe List, is an internationally-regarded brand strategist and analyst. As a prolific marketplace trends pundit, Merilee reports on titans of industry: change makers, movers, shakers and innovators across all categories, both B2C and B2B. Merilee’s cross-media platform work reaches an audience in the multiple millions each month through an array of broadcast TV programs, print and online publications. Connect with her at www.TheLuxeList.com and www.SavvyLiving.tv / Instagram www.Instagram.com/MerileeKern / Twitter www.Twitter.com/MerileeKern / Facebook www.Facebook.com/MerileeKernOfficial / LinkedIN www.LinkedIn.com/in/MerileeKern.

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