Meta delays FB Messenger, Instagram encryption roll-out until 2023
The company had originally planned to enable end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on both the services sometime in 2022
“We’re taking our time to get this right, and we don’t plan to finish the global rollout of end-to-end encryption by default across all our messaging services until sometime in 2023,” Antigone Davis, Meta’s head of safety was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.
"As a company that connects billions of people around the world and has built industry-leading technology, we're determined to protect people's private communications and keep people safe online," he added.
E2EE will only allow sender and recipient to see their conversations. However, Meta wants to ensure that E2EE does not interfere with the platform's ability to help stop criminal activity. Encryption on Messenger service was introduced in 2016, however, it works only when users use the Secret Conversation feature on the service.
Meta had earlier said that default E2EE would become available on Instagram and Messenger "sometime in 2022 at the earliest". Additionally, it is also planning to unify the infrastructure behind the three messaging platforms -- Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram Direct.
