Messenger, like WhatsApp, will soon have end-to-end encryption

Messenger, like WhatsApp, will soon have end-to-end encryption

On Wednesday evening, Meta announced that all Messenger users’ private conversations and calls will be encrypted by default. This is a significant privacy change that will further align Messenger with WhatsApp. The head of Messenger, Loredana Crisan, stated in a blog post that “nobody, including Meta, can see what’s sent or said, unless you choose to report a message to us,” because to the encryption technology.

Since 2016, Messenger users have had the option to protect their conversations through a technique known as end-to-end encryption, which jumbles messages to prevent third parties from listening in and accessing the information.
A major privacy push was highlighted in 2019 when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would implement encryption technology for all private communications within its family of apps. The executive attributed this development to changing consumer habits, wherein people now “want to connect privately in the digital equivalent of the living room.”

The head of Messenger, Loredana Crisan, stated that Meta will encrypt all conversations in a certain amount of time. The company based its strategy on a number of “cryptographic principles,” including one that was created internally and another that is used by the well-known encrypted messaging app, like Signal.

Since 2016, Messenger users have had the option to protect their conversations through a technique known as end-to-end encryption, which jumbles messages to prevent third parties from listening in and accessing the information. While Signal gathers less user data than WhatsApp, privacy advocates usually view Signal as a more secure communication service, even though Meta’s other messaging software, WhatsApp, also uses end-to-end encryption.

Crisan adds that using encrypted chats won’t prevent you from accessing Messenger’s capabilities, so you can continue to use things like custom replies and themes. Crisan does point out that it might “take some time” for all Messenger conversations to transition to the default encryption.

While this is a step in the right direction, group Messenger chats continue to provide opt-in end-to-end encryption.Although Meta stated in August that this would happen “shortly after” the deployment of default private Messenger chats, Instagram messages are likewise not encrypted by default.

The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, has always portrayed himself as an advocate of privacy. It has taken years of technological infrastructure effort, but he revealed in 2019 that his firm was going to encrypt and craft together all of its messaging apps. At the time, he recognized a risk for “truly terrible things like child exploitation”.

Recent European criticism of Meta’s messaging services has been especially harsh; the corporation has been fined billions of euros for breaking data privacy rules. Lawmakers have also ordered Meta to enable message sending from its apps to rival apps after criticizing the firm for making it difficult for its messaging services to integrate with other services like Telegram and iMessage.

Recently, Meta has lowered the number of its trust and safety staff members who deal with matters like clearing up misinformation and tracking down criminals who target children, sellers of pornographic materials, or traffickers in drugs and weapons.

When data leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden appeared to show the extent to which the N.S.A. and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies were unknowingly accessing users’ communications through Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook, end-to-end encryption gained more traction in 2013.

As the popularity of encrypted messaging apps like Signal increased, IT huge companies like Apple began encrypting user data end-to-end. WhatsApp added complete encryption to their service in 2016.

Regulators in the US claim that because encrypted messages are hidden from law enforcement, the growing usage of these technologies in messaging apps has encouraged criminal activity and child exploitation.

A group of 15 law enforcement organizations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol, stated in an April statement that Meta’s decision to encrypt its messaging services “is an example of a purposeful design choice that downgrades safety systems and weakens the ability to keep child users safe.”

Messenger promises to add further capabilities in addition to end-to-end encryption, such as the ability to transmit voice notes, make messages disappear after 24 hours, and edit sent messages. You will also receive notifications on who has read and accessed your messages. Every day, over 1.3 billion images and videos are sent between Messenger users.