Meta Platforms will begin encrypting messages fully by default on Facebook and Instagram.
The social media giant will begin automatically transitioning Facebook users to end-to-end encryption for their messaging this week, with a change of several weeks.
Instagram direct messages will be encrypted by default at some point later, most likely in the New Year.
Users of Facebook and Instagram will no longer be required to enable the encryption option, which allows communication to be viewed only by the sender and receivers.
According to Meta, whose WhatsApp platform already encrypts messages, encryption can help protect users from hackers, fraudsters, and criminals.
End-to-end encryption has been a source of dispute for businesses and governments. Back in September, the British government had urged Meta not to implement encryption on Instagram and Facebook Messenger without safeguards to protect children from sexual abuse.
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