If youre still receiving notifications via email for your Facebook account, the social network will now let you add an encryption key to your profile and send you your updates in an encrypted format that will make it impossible for others to read.

The move, apparently added to ensure “that the people who use Facebook feel safe and can trust that their connection to Facebook is secure,” will enable users to add OpenPGP public keys to their profile, providing them with end-to-end encryption.

The move may well place Facebook at odds with the US and UK governments, as tensions rise between the authorities and the tech community over the use of strong encryption – technologies that can mask data so that only someone with the correct key can decrypt it.

While some argue that it helps prevent sensitive details falling into the hands of hackers and criminals, some governments believe it poses a security risk, as it cannot be decrypted even with a search warrant.

While there have always been tensions between tech pioneers and the government over the accessibility of data, recent events like Edward Snowdens revelations of the extent of mass government surveillance have strengthen the resolve of both sides.

Last year, when Apple announced it would be implementing strong encryption options on iOS 8, the chief of detectives for Chicago PD said that it would “become the phone of choice for the pedophile”, while Apple CEO Tim Cook has stated that the firm has “never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services…and we never will.”