If you were waiting for Facebook Messenger chat encryption, you will have to wait a bit longer.
Meta’s initial plans to bring end-to-end encryption to Facebook Messenger and Instagram as the default setting won’t happen until 2023, reports The Guardian. Meta merged Messenger and Instagram chats last year, with the intention of bringing the same end-to-end encryption it offers to WhatsApp users to its social media sites sometime in 2022. Now these plans have changed.
Facebook Messenger chat encryption delayed for user safety reasons
The idea behind end-to-end encryption is a good one. However, there are many concerns about the service’s introduction on Messenger and Instagram. In fact, Meta’s chief security officer Antigone Davis says it’s the main cause of the new delay.
“We take our time to get it right,” Davis wrote in a message to the Telegraph. Meta wants to make sure that the additional privacy options don’t interfere with its ability to fight criminal activity. When it finally makes end-to-end encryption the default messaging system for Instagram and Facebook Messenger, it plans to use a “combination of unencrypted data in all apps, account information and user reports.” to help keep users safe.
Many officials fear the access that encryption could give criminals, especially minors. People of all ages, including children, use Facebook Messenger and Instagram. Some believe that this could give more protection to child molesters and groomers.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has criticized the move in the past.
“We cannot allow a situation where the ability of law enforcement to tackle heinous criminal acts and protect victims is severely hampered,” Patel said in a BBC report in April. Patel says the move could hamper ongoing operations to bring child molesters to justice.
What is message encryption?
WhatsApp introduces messages that disappear. Image source: Facebook
End-to-end encryption is essentially a protection that ensures that only the sender and the recipient can read messages. End-to-end encryption scrambles messages during transmission. These same messages are then decoded when they reach the intended recipient. As such, law enforcement would need access to one of the connected devices to read the messages.
There are several services that offer end-to-end encryption, including WhatsApp, another Meta property. Meta’s plans to add encryption to Messenger and Instagram have garnered a lot of attention due to brand awareness. Social media sites offer a much larger audience than most standard messaging services. People all over the world recognize Facebook and Instagram, which gives them very wide reach.
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