Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Messenger — has announced that all chats will be encrypted automatically, a change that has some users upset. End-to-end encryption scrambles messages in such a way that they can only be deciphered by the sender or the intended recipient. Meta says encryption will give users more privacy, but some say the real reason for the forced policy is to essentially weld all of Meta's platforms together so they can’t be broken up. Meta went on to explain that with secure storage, users' encrypted chat history can be saved on their servers, which protects them from unwanted access on other devices. If users happen to change devices, they can restore their chat history if they have secure storage turned on. Otherwise, the messages and media may be permanently lost. When users access Messenger, they're asked to create a 6-digit PIN that they will use anytime they use the chat feature. Unfortunately, end-to-end encryption is not an option, but a requirement. Only time will tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Facebook Users Are Upset Over End-to-End Encryption Being Forced on Them
Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Messenger — has announced that all chats will be encrypted automatically, a change that has some users upset. End-to-end encryption scrambles messages in such a way that they can only be deciphered by the sender or the intended recipient. Meta says encryption will give users more privacy, but some say the real reason for the forced policy is to essentially weld all of Meta's platforms together so they can’t be broken up. Meta went on to explain that with secure storage, users' encrypted chat history can be saved on their servers, which protects them from unwanted access on other devices. If users happen to change devices, they can restore their chat history if they have secure storage turned on. Otherwise, the messages and media may be permanently lost. When users access Messenger, they're asked to create a 6-digit PIN that they will use anytime they use the chat feature. Unfortunately, end-to-end encryption is not an option, but a requirement. Only time will tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing.