Merging the three messaging platforms would be a reversal of Zuckerberg's initial stance. But from a security perspective, it could make users' data more vulnerable, since hackers who compromised one could use the shared backend to infiltrate the others. Additionally, Instagram's audience skews far younger than Facebook's.įrom a strictly technical perspective, combining the backends of each app is a practical move. WhatsApp is predominantly used internationally for one-to-one or small group messaging, similar to iMessage. They currently serve vastly different markets. There are various reasons to keep the front-facing apps separate. And by combining its users and incentivizing them to remain on the platform, Facebook can tout higher engagement to advertisers and control a higher share of the messaging market, which is still heavily dominated by Google and Apple. While end-to-end encryption provides security for users, Facebook has been lax about safeguarding users' privacy in the past. For example, WhatsApp accounts - which only require a phone number to sign up - are relatively anonymous, but linking that account with personal Facebook or Instagram account may lead to further privacy issues. The merger sounds practical, but the idea may raise concerns for some users who are already wary of the company's privacy and security challenges. As you would expect, there is a lot of discussion and debate as we begin the long process of figuring out all the details of how this will work." "We're working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks. "We want to build the best messaging experiences we can and people want messaging to be fast, simple, reliable and privacy," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. With a merged platforms, an Instagram user could send a private message to a WhatsApp user, a process not currently available. End-to-end encryption protects messages from being viewed by anyone outside of the conversation. While each service would maintain its standalone app, the new unified backend would support end-to-end encryption, which allows for secure messaging - one of WhatsApp's main appeals. The effort reportedly requires thousands of Facebook employees to completely rework how the three platforms function from the ground up. As CNET reports, this could allow users to communicate across each of the company's diverse chat systems more easily.Īccording to The New York Times, the goal is complete the project by the end of 2019 or early 2020. But Mark Zuckerberg reportedly has a plan to integrate three popular Facebook-owned messaging apps - Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger - under a single underlying messaging platform or protocol.
Don't worry - your favorite apps aren't going anywhere.
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