Facebook rolled out end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls on its Messenger app, a technology widely used on its WhatsApp platform, part of a move to give users more security.
In a blog, Ruth Kricheli, director of product management of Messenger, explained it was deploying the encryption option after seeing a surge in the use of audio and video on Messenger, with more 150 million video calls now made daily.
Kricheli said the encryption feature was optional and gave users more control over how private they want their calls and chats to be.
Facebook has offered end-to-end encryption on one-to-one text chats since 2016, as well as on WhatsApp, “to keep personal conversations safe from hackers and criminals”.
Likening the technology to a lock and key, Kricheli said end-to-end encryption was becoming the industry standard, where only the user and the people in the chat or call have access.
“The content of your messages and calls in an end-to-end encrypted conversation is protected from the moment it leaves your device to the moment it reaches the receiver’s device,” she said. “This means that nobody else, including Facebook, can see or listen to what’s sent or said.”
In the coming months, Facebook plans to test end-to-end encryption in Messenger group chats and for Instagram direct messages.
In addition, the company rolled out updated controls over Disappearing Messages, with its recently launched expiring message feature now including a timer to determine the amount of time one has access to the content, ranging from five seconds to 24 hours.
