Three years after saying Facebook and Instagram customers might chat with each other, Meta is reversing course.
The social media firm merged the direct messaging packages of the 2 websites in September 2020, half of a bigger plan to merge the Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp chat packages and additional lock individuals into the corporate’s ecosphere.
Beginning in mid-December, nonetheless, that cross-app communication will not be out there, the corporate introduced in an updated Instagram help center posting. In real-world phrases, which means Instagram and Fb customers received’t be capable of begin new conversations or calls with one another through the Messenger apps—and any current cross-platform chats will turn out to be read-only, stopping customers from sending or receiving further messages.
Fb customers additionally will not be capable of view the energetic standing of Instagram customers and vice versa.
The change in standing for the 2 messenger apps comes as Meta is dealing with threats by the European Commission to control the Messenger service as a “core platform service” beneath its Digital Markets Act. That may drive Meta to make Messenger nonoperable with different messaging companies.
Fb is combating that, saying Messenger is a core a part of the Fb app and never a standalone function (even though the Messenger app is separate from Fb).
Earlier this yr, Meta additionally shut down its Messenger Lite app, a stripped-down model of Messenger for Android gadgets. (That app had reportedly been downloaded 760 million times globally.) The corporate additionally dropped SMS help for Messenger.
The corporate additionally increased parental control for teens on the platform this summer time, letting dad and mom examine their youngsters’ privateness and security settings in Messenger, view their contact lists and get updates when somebody is added or deleted, and see who’s messaging them.
