End-to-End Encryption Coming to Messenger and Instagram!
Meta, which has been working on end-to-end encryption for nearly 8 years, has now begun testing the feature widely on Messenger and Instagram. Here are the details!
The company plans to enable end-to-end encryption for Messenger by default by the end of this year, Meta said today. The tech giant is also expanding its testing of end-to-end encryption features to “millions more people’s chats.”
The company has been building end-to-end encryption features into Messenger for years, but most of them have been optional or experimental. In 2016, Meta began offering end-to-end encryption protection for the first time through its “secret conversations” mode.
In 2021, it offered such an option for voice and video calls in the app, followed by a similar move in January 2022 to offer end-to-endencryption for group chats and calls. In August 2022, it began testing end-to-end ncryption for individual chats on a large scale for the first time.
There is increasing pressure on Meta to enable end-to-end encrypton so that the company or others cannot access users’ chat messages. Protecting individual communications became more important when a Nebraska girl and her mother pleaded guilty to abortion charges in July after Meta turned over their DMs to police.
Meta Describes the Challenges of End-to-End Encryption
In a letter to digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future earlier this month, Rob Sherman, Meta’s deputy chief privacy officer, said that they would be bringing end-to-endencryption to Instagram DMs following the launch of Messenger. He also noted that “the testing phase is taking longer than expected” due to engineering challenges.
In a blog post, the company explained that there were significant challenges in building encryption features for Messenger. The company said it had to scrap its legacy server architecture and create a new way for people to manage their chat history through protections like PINs.
So what are your expectations on this issue? You can share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
