Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced that it will be discontinuing its cross-platform messaging service, which allowed users to message accounts on Facebook from their Instagram accounts. This decision comes three years after the introduction of the feature, and users will now be limited to messaging users on the platform they are currently using. While Meta has not provided a specific reason for this discontinuation, it coincides with the company’s plans to implement end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on Messenger by the end of the year.
According to a support page on Instagram, Meta will be turning off support for cross-app communication chats by mid-December. Ongoing chats between users on Facebook and Instagram will no longer work when this functionality is disabled. Instead, the chats will become read-only, allowing participants to view their chat history. This means that users will no longer be able to start new chats with Facebook Messenger users from their Instagram accounts, and vice versa. Existing chats will not be automatically migrated to the other platform.
The discontinuation of cross-platform messaging has several implications for users. Firstly, Facebook users will no longer be able to see the online status of Instagram users, as well as when messages have been read. These features, previously available through the Activity Status setting, will no longer be accessible. In order to continue chatting with friends across the two platforms, users will need to start a new chat with them on the same app.
While Meta has not provided a specific reason for discontinuing cross-app communication chats support, it is important to consider the timing of this announcement. Meta is currently working towards implementing end-to-end encryption for one-to-one friends and family chats on Messenger. This means that chats will be protected by default and can only be seen by the sender and recipient, with no access by the company, unless a chat is reported by participants. It is possible that Meta’s decision to focus on E2EE implementation has led to the discontinuation of cross-platform messaging.
Meta has announced that it will be discontinuing its cross-platform messaging service for Facebook and Instagram. Users will no longer be able to message accounts on Facebook from their Instagram accounts, and vice versa. The discontinuation coincides with Meta’s plans to implement end-to-end encryption on Messenger, and users will need to start new chats on the same app to continue conversations across platforms. While the specific reason for this decision has not been disclosed, it is evident that Meta is prioritizing the implementation of E2EE to enhance the privacy and security of user conversations.
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