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US: Facebook to merge WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger chats

By  |  January 25, 2019
The New York Times is reporting that Facebook plans to combine messaging services across its applications, merging chats from WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. A WhatsApp user would be able to start a chat with an Instagram user, breaking down barriers between Facebook’s social platforms.
A Messenger user would be able to send an end-to-end encrypted conversation with someone who only has a WhatsApp account for instance. Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp will remain separate apps on the home screen, but the common messaging features will be unified they reported.
Mr. Zuckerberg has also ordered all of the apps to incorporate end-to-end encryption, the people said, a significant step that protects messages from being viewed by anyone except the participants in the conversation. After the changes take effect, a Facebook user could send an encrypted message to someone who has only a WhatsApp account, for example. Currently, that isn’t possible because the apps are separate.
Facebook is still in the early stages of the work and plans to complete it by the end of this year or in early 2020.

Full Content: The New York Times

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