META Announces Default End-to-End Security for Messenger

Meta has announced a new security update for Messenger, introducing a default end-to-end encryption for personal messages and calls on Messenger and Facebook.

The company says it has begun to upgrade people’s personal conversations on Messenger to use E2EE by default. “Our aim is to ensure that everyone’s personal messages on Messenger can only be accessed by the sender and the intended recipients, and that everyone can be sure the messages they receive are from an authentic sender”, says Meta.

Meta stated that it has spent years of investment and testing for this security feature. It noted that Messenger first built end-to-end encrypted chats in 2016 as a feature called Secret Conversations.

According to a blog post by Engineering at Meta, the aim of the security update is to “protect people’s communications, so they can feel safe expressing themselves with their friends and loved ones.” Meta says it is focusing on ensuring only the sender and receiver can read messages, and not even Meta can interfere with their contents.

Alongside the end-to-end security for messenger, Meta said they are also introducing “a server-based solution where encrypted messages can be stored on Meta’s servers while only being readable using encryption keys under the user’s control.”

The company says it is also exploring disappearing messages for one-to-one Instagram Direct conversations in select countries. Meta says it plans to expand E2EE infrastructure and conduct additional testing around E2EE on Instagram over the next year.

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