Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new feature for the Facebook Mesengger app that will significantly improve user privacy.
This feature is a screenshot notification. With this feature the user will be notified if the message of his conversation with someone has been immortalized by means of a screenshot.
However, this feature only applies to chats sent with the "disappearing messages" feature, a message that can disappear automatically. Messages sent via regular Messenger chat rooms don't get this new feature.
So once the message has been read it will automatically disappear and this feature can be set within a certain time period according to the user's wishes, ranging from 5 seconds to one day.
"New update for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats, so you'll get a notification if someone captures a screenshot of the disappearing messages feature," Zuckerberg wrote.
Facebook first introduced the disappearing messages feature in November 2020 for its Messenger and Instagram apps.
This move is part of an effort to provide added protection across Meta's messaging platforms.
Facebook has been working to roll out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) across its messaging platforms. E2EE is a significant improvement over server-side encryption and is considered the standard for both privacy and security.
In the case of server-side encryption, the service provider has a key that can be used to decrypt user data. As a result, users can never really know who accessed their data and messages.
However, with E2EE user data is encrypted in such a way that it can only be read by two devices, namely on the device of the sender and recipient of the message.
Even for application providers they will not be able to peek or even read user messages. While E2EE offers unmatched security, it can be more difficult to add features that are common in non-E2EE services.
That difference is what made Zuckerberg's latest announcement. Facebook now provides screenshot notifications in E2EE chats, adding an extra layer of privacy and security to messages.
In addition to the screenshot notification feature there is also a reaction feature, GIFs, and stickers to this chat which will make private conversations a little more interesting.
"We've also added GIFs, stickers, and reactions to encrypted chats as well." added Zuck.