>don't the recipients have a right to retain a message that was sent to them? No. There is no "right to retention" in the GDPR. Users have the right to access

>don't the recipients have a right to retain a message that was sent to them? No. There is no "right to retention" in the GDPR. Users have the right to access any data you hold that relates to them (with some exceptions), but you are under no obligation to retain data. GDPR requires you to do the exact opposite - delete (or thoroughly anonymise) data as soon as possible. Art.5(1)(e) says "Personal data shall be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed". If you're aiming for maximum GDPR compliance, it would be sensible to delete the messages from your server as soon as they have been delivered to the recipients. You're a messaging service, not an archival service; storing the messaging data or metadata indefinitely is contrary to the principles of the GDPR and exposes you to liability if that data is ever leaked. I'd also question why you need plaintext access to user messages in the first place. End-to-end encryption protects you and your users. If you can't access the data, you can't inadvertently breach the GDPR. https://gdpr-info.eu/art-5-gdpr/ https://gdpr-info.eu/art-5-gdpr/