A computer-implemented method in a messaging service, configured to broadcast a message including ephemeral content to a list of intended recipients, comprising: receiving setup information for an end-to-end encrypted session between a sending client and a receiving client, the setup information comprising information relating to a first encryption key for decrypting message content; transmitting the setup information to the receiving client; receiving a message including ephemeral content, the ephemeral content associated with encrypted media and a second key for decrypting the media; accessing, by a server device, a list of intended recipients of the message; filtering, by the server device, the list of intended recipients, the filtering comprising removing recipients that do not have a symmetric relationship with a sending user account associated with the sending client account from the list; and transmitting, after having filtered the list of intended recipients by the server device, the ephemeral content to the receiving client when the receiving client is an intended recipient; wherein when the server receives an ephemeral content message to be broadcast by a sending client, the server retrieves the sending user's contacts list and uses this list as an initial candidate list of potential recipients of the broadcast, wherein for each user ID in the candidate list, those user's contacts list is retrieved and reviewed to determine if the sending user is present in the recipients' contact lists, wherein if the relationship between the sender and potential recipient is symmetric, the recipient remains in the candidate list, wherein if the relationship is asymmetric so that the potential recipient's contacts list does not include the sending user, then the potential recipient is filtered out of the candidate list. receiving setup information for an end-to-end encrypted session between a sending client and a receiving client, the setup information comprising information relating to a first encryption key for decrypting message content; transmitting the setup information to the receiving client; receiving a message including ephemeral content, the ephemeral content associated with encrypted media and a second key for decrypting the media; accessing, by a server device, a list of intended recipients of the message; filtering, by the server device, the list of intended recipients, the filtering comprising removing recipients that do not have a symmetric relationship with a sending user account associated with the sending client account from the list; and transmitting, after having filtered the list of intended recipients by the server device, the ephemeral content to the receiving client when the receiving client is an intended recipient; wherein when the server receives an ephemeral content message to be broadcast by a sending client, the server retrieves the sending user's contacts list and uses this list as an initial candidate list of potential recipients of the broadcast, wherein for each user ID in the candidate list, those user's contacts list is retrieved and reviewed to determine if the sending user is present in the recipients' contact lists, wherein if the relationship between the sender and potential recipient is symmetric, the recipient remains in the candidate list, wherein if the relationship is asymmetric so that the potential recipient's contacts list does not include the sending user, then the potential recipient is filtered out of the candidate list.