Is It Truly Private If You Send Private Message On Messenger
If you use Facebook today (and odds are good since the site just surpassed 2.6 billion monthly active users), you've probably heard of the Facebook Messenger App and the worries regarding Facebook Messenger privacy.
Users were required to download the standalone Facebook Messenger App if they wanted to utilize chatting via the Facebook app for mobile in the beginning of the debacle in 2014. Users on Facebook began to be cautious as a result of this.
Why? Because the Facebook Messenger app requested a lot more permissions than the usual app, and let's face it, the permissions are a bit scary when you dig into them (more on that below).
Then, in early2018, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal broke, revealing that Cambridge Analytica had collected millions of Facebook users' personal data without their permission. This sparked the #DeleteFacebook campaign, which became a Twitter trend.
Facebook users, understandably, have been concerned about their privacy for a long time, and with good cause.
If you have concerns about your privacy on Facebook Messenger, you've come to the correct spot.
We have solutions. Use the following instructions to hop around as needed:
Are Messenger Messages Secure?
- Your Facebook Messenger chats are not private unless you use Secret Conversations (see below).
Messages transmitted through the Facebook Messenger app are not encrypted end-to-end. This implies that any plain text communication you send on Messenger may be read or intercepted.
If you value your privacy, you would never use a chat service like Facebook Messenger that is not end-to-end encrypted by default.
What does it mean to encrypt data from beginning to end? I'm glad you inquired! In plain English, if you send a message from your phone to Mark that read “Hi Mark” and it is encrypted, the message is transmitted as a jumble of letters and numbers before it reaches Mark's phone.
This implies that if someone intercepted your “Hi Mark” message, it would appear something like this: TUVm6HIrSJjhNU9x8gIaWJF4KtK3I5TYaSDdaxcDlrI=
Nobody (even hackers) would be able to decipher what the message is saying this way.
However, since the Facebook Messenger program does not encrypt your conversations by default, Facebook may see all of the photos and texts you send.
In reality, Facebook has admitted that it employs technologies to monitor your Facebook conversations and photos. Even if these communications aren't always viewed by a human, it's still a dubious business choice that's the polar opposite of “privacy.”
Doesn't that sound a little frightening? Despite this, millions of people use Facebook Messenger on a regular basis.
Is Facebook Messenger a safe platform to use?
NO, only if you use Facebook Messenger's Secret Conversations function is it “safe.”
Private Conversations, a new tool introduced by Facebook in 2016, offers encrypted, secret, and self-destructing Messenger conversations.
Despite the fact that Secret Conversations has been a feature of Facebook Messenger since 2016, many users are unaware of its existence.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, published a letter on Facebook in March 2019 titled “A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking,” in which he explains the company's plans to create a privacy-focused messaging and social networking platform using Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp (all platforms owned by Facebook).
“I think the future of communication will progressively move to private, encrypted services where individuals can be sure that what they say to each other remains safe and their messages and content won't linger around forever,” Mark Zuckerberg says in the piece.
All Facebook-owned messaging services will have end-to-end encryption. It's worth noting that WhatsApp already has end-to-end encryption by default (which is great!).
Despite this, Facebook's chat services are far from completely encrypted, and the company has said that encrypting Messenger would take years.
Is it possible for others to see your Messenger messages?
Yes, technically. Because your communications are not end-to-end encrypted, they might be read by Facebook, police enforcement, hackers, overreaching governments, or anybody else who understood what they were doing.
This does not, however, imply that your friends or family members will be able to view your communications. They could only read them if they knew your login and password and were logged into your account.
Your Facebook Messenger communications, on the other hand, are saved word for word on Facebook's servers. So, if Facebook really wanted to, they could go through all of your communications or, in certain instances, give them over to law police or the government.
If Facebook's servers or your personal Facebook account were ever hijacked, all of your conversations and photos might possibly be recovered.
How Do I Start Secret Messenger Conversations?
You must first activate Secret Conversations on your Facebook Messenger account in order to utilize them (which provide end-to-end encryption).
To activate Secret Conversations on Facebook Messenger for Android and iOS, follow the instructions below:
- Activate Facebook Messenger.
- In the upper-left corner, tap on your profile picture.
- Scroll down to Secret Conversations and hit it.
- Make sure the toggle for Secret Conversations is set on.
After Secret Conversations have been enabled, you may begin using them.
To create a Secret Conversation on Facebook Messenger for Android, follow the steps below:
- Activate Facebook Messenger.
- In the upper-right corner, tap the pencil symbol.
- Make sure the Padlock switch is on.
- Select the person with whom you wish to have a Secret Conversation.
- To create a Secret Conversation on Facebook Messenger for iOS, follow the steps below:
- Activate Facebook Messenger.
- In the upper-right corner, tap the pencil symbol.
- In the upper-right corner, tap Secret.
- Select the person with whom you wish to have a Secret Conversation.
- See the Facebook Secret Conversations help page for additional details.
Permissions for the Facebook and Messenger Apps
Since2014, when users were required to download the separate Facebook Messenger app in order to utilize chatting on mobile, there has been a lot of suspicion about Facebook and Facebook Messenger App permissions.
Facebook users have expressed worry about how the company is utilizing these rights to deliver customized ads and profit from them.
So, we went ahead and began investigating Facebook and Facebook Messenger permissions, and the results are given below.
First and foremost:
You've already accepted to almost all of the permissions that the Facebook Messenger App asks if you've downloaded the standard Facebook App!
It's right, you read that properly. The normal Facebook app (not the Messenger app) has almost identical permissions as the Messenger app.
You still don't trust us? Here's a comparison of Facebook's and Facebook Messenger's permissions:
Facebook version 265.0.0.61.103 and Facebook Messenger version 259.0.0.18.120 are the most recent versions.
The permissions of the Facebook app and the Messenger app are shown in the images above. If you've never looked into them before, several of them jump out as being very frightening after reading through them (some are listed below).
Permissions for the Facebook Messenger App:
- dialing phone numbers directly
- read and receive text messages (SMS or MMS)
- capture photographs and video
- audio recording
- alter the network's connection
- download files without being notified
- take a look at your shared storage's contents
Permissions for Facebook Apps:
- go through your text messages (SMS or MMS)
- capture photographs and video
- audio recording
- alter the network's connection
- download files without being notified
- background access to a place
Many of the permissions are the same, and the two applications seek permissions that are almost similar (with a few differences). After all, the Facebook Messenger app allows you to contact individuals directly, which explains why it differs from the normal Facebook app in a few ways, such as the ability to dial phone numbers directly.
Why is it necessary for Facebook to have these permissions?
Facebook, on the other hand, offers several sections in its Help Center that clarify what permissions are used for. Both the standard Facebook App and the Facebook Messenger App include explanation pages.
Check out these resources:
Help Page for the Messenger Software-Why is the Messenger app asking for permission to use features on my Android phone or tablet?
Why is the Facebook app asking permission to use features on my Android? – Facebook App Help Page
The following are some instances of why Facebook requires certain permissions (which may also be found in the links above):
Read your SMS or MMS text messages — When you add a phone number to your account, we may automatically confirm it by looking for the confirmation code that we provide through text message.
Take photographs and videos — With this ability, you may take images and videos inside the Messenger app and share them to your friends and other contacts with ease.
Record audio— With this ability, you may use Messenger to send voice messages, make free phone calls, and transmit videos.
Directly call phone numbers — This ability enables you to call a Messenger contact by pressing on the person's phone number, which may be located in a menu inside the person's message thread.
Read calendar events and private information — When you're watching an event on Facebook, this enables the app to display your calendar availability (based on your phone's calendar)
Last Words
Another thing to keep in mind is that permissions are required for an application's functionality to function. I've even honed some fundamental A skills.
