Meta delays message encryption on Facebook and Instagram to 2023
Meta, which is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has now stated that delays message encryption on Facebook and Instagram to 2023.
The push for a more private experience will take a longer time than the company initially expected. The large social media firm before expected to complete it to wrap as soon as to the year 2022.
As the safety head of The Guardian wrote for the editorial for the Telegram warning that Facebook and Instagram delayed the end to end encrypted messaging to sometime in 2023.
The Meta wants it to wrap it to the year 2022, but the company wants the extra time to “get this right”, as David stated.
What is end-to-end encryption?
The decision for encryption was taken almost 18 months after the global alliance of 130 child protection groups or organizations raised the alert over the risks of end-to-end encryption to children.
End to end encryption is an important part of securing your messages it combines the essential data while it goes from one device to the other devices.
The only way you can able to read the messages is to take and unlock the device from which it sends and receives the message.
The end to end encryption is that much secure and it ensures that no one can able to read your message including the police and the Meta itself.
While the end to end encryption is more secure and protects your personal messages, but as per the children’s safety organizations and the politicians rightly worry that it could give profit to the other in police investigations into the cases like child abuse.
The messaging encryption is criticized by the various groups, as per the home secretary of the UK Priti Patel, stated that it could impede the several law implementing in continuing criminal activity including the child abuse and several.
Onto the popular applications like WhatsApp and Facebook messenger, Meta already using the end to end encryption for the messaging service and video calls.
Meta chief, Mark Zuckerberg said that most people expect their communication secure and only to be seen by the only people they have sent and not by any hackers, criminals, any government or even by the organization or people operating the service they are using to send messages.
Nearly 2.8 billion people are using Meta’s application per day. In 2020 more than 21 million child sexual abuse referrals globally came from the tech industry to the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
From these 21 million reports, nearly 20 million reports are coming from Facebook.
There is a storm of bad press and other organizations the company is receiving right now, it seems like pausing this encryption for the safety of the children is a very safer move for the company.
It seems like a meta is thinking and researching all problems raised by the organization and press.
Both points raised by the organizations and users are valid. If we think about the safety of children’s and want to grab criminals then it seems this point is valid.
But at the same time, we want our communication private, want to protect our privacy, then the encryption points seem to be valid.
Meta is into difficulties right now and it seems the company find the middle way by saying they need to work onto the encryption more and balance both.
