BACKGROUND
In recent weeks, many Facebook users expressed concern regarding private messenger and how “private” it actually is. According to Chief Executive Officer, Marc Zuckerberg, and Bloomberg Technology, Facebook scans the content of the messages strictly for security reasons. This allows any content that violates the company rules to be detected and blocked.
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT US?
Do all your illegal activity off of Facebook. No I’m just kidding. In fact, many websites follow similar practices to Facebook such as Google, Instagram and Youtube. When you decide to be apart of any online community, you agree to their terms and conditions. Within these terms or conditions you agree to follow community standards, which includes (but not limited to) not posting illegal or abusive content.
Any user that comes across content that goes against community standards is allowed to report that post, which will then be reviewed by the community operations team. Well, Facebook has designed automated tools to flag any content that violates their rules. These systems scan for things such as child exploitation and malware. So, as long as you do what you are suppose to do.. you shouldn’t be worried.
Figure 1: Facebook Terms of Services: Section 2
SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Nothing really. Facebook is not out to get you. Zuckerberg claims your messages are not scanned for advertisement purposes, but solely for security reasons. Facebook keeps your messages private and they do not listen to your voice and video calls.
Messenger has an encryption option, but users have to manually turn it on themselves. First you have to turn on the end-to-end encryption in the messenger app. Do this by accessing your profile settings, going into “Secret Conversations” and switching it on.
Figure 2: Snapshots of how to turn on ‘Secret Conversation’ in Facebook’s messenger
Even though the encryption is enabled, you still have to turn on the “Secret” button for each message you want encrypted. This is usually located in the top right corner of the message and if it’s not, try clicking on the users profile picture within the message. You then can customize the message to who you want to send it and for how long the recipient can access it. Both the sender and the recipient will have a device key to verify the encryption. Make sure both parties keep this key private.
According to Connor Forrest’s article, one can send messages, pictures and stickers in a secret conversation. Unfortunately group messages, gifs, videos, voice/video calling or payments are not yet supported by the encryption feature.
It is important to note that a user can report an encrypted message if they feel it goes against Facebook’s Community Standards. As stated on the Facebook website, “when you report a secret conversation, recent messages from that conversation will be decrypted and sent securely from your device to our Help Team for review. We won’t tell the person you’re talking to that you reported it.”
Facebook is continuously updating and making their privacy policy more clear to avoid further confusion. I understand why people may feel unsettled when they hear their messengers are scanned, but just know it is to ensure a safe experience for all users.