Because of the encryption technology "nobody, including Meta, can see what's sent or said, unless you choose to report a message to us," Loredana Crisan, the head of Messenger, wrote in an accompanying blog post .
Since 2016, Messenger users could choose, or opt-in, to safeguarding their chats via a process referred to as end-to-end encryption, which scrambles peoples' communications so that third-parties can't eavesdrop and access the data.
Although Meta's other messaging app, WhatsApp, also utilizes end-to-end encryption, privacy advocates have generally considered Signal to be a more secure communication service because it collects less user data.
"After years of work rebuilding Messenger, we've updated the app with default end-to-end encryption for all personal calls and messages," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
In 2022, Meta conducted a test on Messenger that let users back up their end-to-end encrypted conversations in case they needed to access them on another device.
Persons:
Crisan, what's, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg
Organizations:
Meta, Facebook, Cambridge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Apple, IBM
Locations:
Nebraska, San Bernardino , California, WhatsApp, United Kingdom