Meta, formerly Facebook and owner of Facebook Messenger, improves the security of the messaging app. In a press release posted on its blog last Thursday (11), the company said it will implement end-to-end encryption on Messenger. The company is currently testing the tool to make it the default in the app’s chats.

Theoretically, only the sender and recipient can see end-to-end encryption. Even Meta will not be able to access the content of the message. This is the first step towards adopting end-to-end encryption as a standard for Facebook Messenger, the company says, rather than an option currently available to users.

The Meta’s decision came at just the right time, and it’s hardly a coincidence. The company has been heavily criticized lately after involvement in the case of a 17-year-old girl who had an abortion after 20 weeks in Nebraska, USA. Abortion after 20 weeks is illegal in the state of Nebraska, and Meta provided the police with files of messages that are being used to prosecute the young woman and her mother.

The company defended itself by stating that when it received the request for information, there was no mention of abortion. Now, if the messages were end-to-end encrypted, in theory, the company and the police would not have access to the information that is now used by the US state to prosecute the mother and daughter.

Meta spokesman Alex Jizan said in an interview that: “This is not a response to any police requests. We had this planned for a few months, but in the short term it’s due to the fact that the Messenger development teams are finishing testing. [quinta-feira]so we want people to be aware of testing before making changes to the app.”

End-to-End Encryption in Test

At the moment, standard end-to-end encryption for Facebook Messenger is in the testing phase for “certain groups.” The company also said that message history can still be shared with the platform if it violates Meta policy.. “As with end-to-end encrypted chats, secure storage means we won’t have access to your messages unless you tell us about them.”the company said in a statement.

While end-to-end encryption is always welcome, this does not mean that our data, chats and information will always be safe. HiIt is important to be a little more careful about the promises of companies that can benefit a lot from data sharing..

Source: Gizmodo, Facebook blog.

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