How to Enable end-to-end Encryption on Facebook Messenger
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Loading... - James Ameyaw
- 22 Aug 2022
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While protecting your privacy online has been a subject of interest for a while now, events in the news — for example, the chat history Facebook recently turned over to police — have brought it front and center. But how do you protect your privacy while staying in touch with friends and relatives? While there are a number of messaging apps that boast increased privacy features, sometimes you can’t persuade the people you want to keep in touch with to use them. What is your alternative? What, for example, if they insist on chatting with Facebook Messenger?
Well, you can start by using end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on Messenger.
Basically, end-to-end encryption means that nobody — even Facebook’s company Meta — should be able to read what is in your chat. In short, this is accomplished by each party’s account being assigned a special key; only the account with that key can unlock the message. Currently, Meta has E2EE available on its Messenger platform but only on a per-chat basis. The company has announced its intention to turn on E2EE by default soon, but in the meantime, if you’re about to embark on a Messenger conversation that you want to keep private, here’s how to turn it on. (The process is generally the same for both Android devices and iPhones.)
BEGIN AN ENCRYPTED CHAT
- In your Messenger mobile app, select Chats in the bottom menu.
- Tap on the Edit icon in the upper right (it looks like a pen).
- Toggle on the lock icon in the top right.
- Select the name of the person you want to chat with. (Note: according to Meta, there are some accounts you can’t use with E2EE, such as businesses and accounts of public figures.) Read More...
