Mark Zuckerberg has said he believes secure, private messaging services will become more popular than open platforms. Mr Zuckerberg outlined his vision to transform Facebook into a “privacy-focused platform.” This is because,The social media giant has come under fire for a series of privacy scandals.
The CEO and founder detailed his overarching vision for how to make the service more secure, including encrypting messages. He also teased plans to integrate its various services, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, and said there will be a bigger emphasis on ephemeral content. Facebook owns Messenger and WhatsApp, but message encryption limits its ability to make money through targeted adverts.
According to him, “People want to be able to choose which service they use to communicate with people. However, today if you want to message people on Facebook you have to use Messenger, on Instagram you have to use Direct, and on WhatsApp you have to use WhatsApp,” Zuckerberg wrote in the post. “We want to give people a choice so they can reach their friends across these networks from whichever app they prefer.”
Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that Facebook planned to integrate its messaging platforms, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. The three services would remain separate apps, but the infrastructure behind the scenes would be the same.
Following that report, Facebook received some criticism and questions, such as what kind of power that would give the company.
At the time, Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii, tweeted: “Good for encryption but bad for competition and privacy.”
Additionally, Facebook recently highlighted the move’s privacy and security benefits. Zuckerberg said many people use its Messenger app on Android to send and receive SMS texts and noted those texts can’t be encrypted because the SMS protocol isn’t encrypted. However, if its messaging services are integrated, users would be able to send an encrypted message to someone’s phone number in WhatsApp from Messenger.
“I believe working towards implementing end-to-end encryption for all private communications is the right thing to do,” he said.
Zuckerberg also pointed to the success of private messaging, disappearing content and small group chats, saying these are “by far the fastest growing areas of online communication.” Instagram Stories, which disappear after 24 hours, recently hit 500 million daily active users.
Facebook posts record $6.9 billion profit despite privacy scandals
Facebook posts record $6.9 billion profit despite privacy scandals
Users may feel more comfortable communicating with one or a handful friends, and sharing content that won’t stick around permanently.
He went further to say people should be comfortable being themselves, and should not have to worry about what they share coming back to hurt them later. So we won’t keep messages or stories around for longer than necessary to deliver the service or longer than people want it,”
He added that, Facebook for instance could give users an option to have messages automatically delete after a year, month or even seconds after they’re sent. It could also stop storing messaging metadata for a long time.
Zuckerberg also acknowledged the company’s past issues with privacy. The company has faced a growing list of privacy issues, including the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the biggest security breach in its history.
“I understand that many people don’t think Facebook can or would even want to build this kind of privacy-focused platform, because frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services, and we’ve historically focused on tools for more open sharing,” he wrote. “But we’ve repeatedly shown that we can evolve to build the services that people really want, including in private messaging and stories.”
As part of his privacy goals, he said Facebook would not “store sensitive data in countries with weak records on human rights like privacy and freedom of expression.” and added that encrypted messaging will also create scope for new business tools, especially ones around online payments and commerce.
“Upholding this principle may mean that our services will get blocked in some countries, or that we won’t be able to enter others anytime soon. That’s a tradeoff we’re willing to make,” he continued.
“I believe we should be working towards a world where people can speak privately and live freely knowing that their information will only be seen by who they want to see it and won’t all stick around forever. “
“If we can help move the world in this direction, I will be proud of the difference we’ve made,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote. “Frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services”.
What we are seeing is potentially a very new direction for Facebook.
You could argue that it is finally listening to what its users want and responding to their changing habits, rather than introducing its own ideas and then responding to the influx of feedback afterwards – seeking forgiveness rather than permission is not uncommon in the tech sector.
The shift to more intimate communications between smaller groups, making those conversations private even from Facebook itself, and no longer keeping data for a long period of time is no doubt designed to address the tech giant’s poor track record on privacy in recent times.
Nevertheless, though, he did not offer a firm timeline for his vision, but said changes would take place “over the next few years”.
