WhatsApp Is Merging With Facebook Messenger

WhatsApp and Instagram are to be integrated with Facebook Messenger, it has been revealed. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently wants to combine the services under a single underlying messaging platform or protocol.

The idea is to allow users to communicate across the three services more easily, with the project set to complete by the end of this year or early next, according to The New York Times.

According to reports, the new unified backend will support the end-to-end encryption needed to stop messages being viewed by third parties. In theory, this means all three platforms should be more secure, but in reality, there are doubts.

For this reason, the news has not been well received by many users. People are already leaving Facebook in droves and with good reason: The social networking giant has been hacked and suffered data leaks several times over the last year. As part of this, the messaging app was possibly affected seeing users’ private conversations exposed to hackers.

This, of course, is in addition to the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal which saw Facebook abusing its user data with results that could have influenced elections.

The exact logistics of what is going to happen once the three services are combined are not yet clear. But you can bet your life that data will be at the heart of this integration. There are even suggestions that if pressured, Facebook could build a handy back door allowing law enforcement to spy on WhatApp users when needed.