> it makes total sense to me that an "off the record" chat doesn't need to be preserved, even by a court order to keep all records. Let's assume there is a cha

> it makes total sense to me that an "off the record" chat doesn't need to be preserved, even by a court order to keep all records. Let's assume there is a chat app that is officially designed to be off-the-record, You cannot officially designate anything to be "off the record". That's just not a thing that the legal system recognises - the closest thing might be attorney-client privilege, and that's not relevant here, so none of your analysis applies.