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PERTH: Facebook Messenger and Instagram’s direct messaging services will be integrated into a single system, Facebook announced.
The merger will allow shared messaging on both platforms, as well as video calls and the use of a variety of tools drawn from both platforms. It is currently being rolled out in all countries on a voluntary basis, but has yet to reach Australia.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans in March last year to integrate Messenger, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp into one unified messaging experience.
At the heart of this was the goal of managing end-to-end encryption across the entire messaging “ecosystem”.
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This was apparently part of Facebook’s renewed focus on privacy, in the wake of several highly publicized scandals.
Most notably, its poor data protection allowed political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to steal data from 87 million Facebook accounts and use it to target users with political ads ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.
In a statement released yesterday about the new merger, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri and Messenger Vice President Stan Chudnovsky wrote:
… One in three people sometimes find it difficult to remember where to find a particular thread. With this update, it will be even easier to stay connected without thinking about which app to use to communicate with your friends and family.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the Judicial Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business and Administrative Law of the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC on July 29, 2020 (Photo: Mandel Ngan / Pool via REUTERS).
While that may seem harmless, Facebook is likely trying to make its apps inseparable, ahead of a potential antitrust lawsuit in the US that could try to get the company to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.
NEW PRIVACY CHALLENGES IN THE FUTURE
The Messenger / Instagram Direct merger will extend to features implemented during the pandemic, such as the “View Together” tool for Messenger.
As the name suggests, this allows users to watch videos together in real time. Now, both Messenger and Instagram users will be able to use it, regardless of the application they are in.
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With integration, new privacy challenges arise. Facebook has already recognized this
And these challenges will be present despite the fact that Facebook’s general privacy policy applies to all applications in its “family” of applications.
For example, in the new merged messaging ecosystem, a user who previously blocked on Messenger will not automatically be blocked on Instagram.
Thus, the blocked person will be able to contact you again. This could open the doors to a host of unexpected abuse online.
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REASONS FOR FACEBOOK
This first step, and Facebook’s full roadmap for encrypted WhatsApp, Instagram Direct, and Messenger integration, has three clear results.
First of all, the end-to-end encryption means that Facebook will be able to completely deny anything that travels through its messaging tools. You will not be able to “see” the messages.
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While this may be good from a user privacy perspective, it also means anything from harassment, scams, illegal drug sales, and pedophilia that cannot be controlled if it happens through these tools.
This would prevent Facebook from being blamed for harmful or illegal uses of its services. When it comes to moderation of the platform, Facebook would effectively become “invisible” (not to mention that moderation is expensive and complicated).
All of this is good news for Mark Zuckerberg, especially as Facebook looks down the cannon of potential antitrust litigation.
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Second, once the applications are merged, they will no longer be functionally platform independent. They will continue to exist as standalone applications with some standalone functions, but the vast amount of personal data that sustains them will live in a giant shared database.
Deeper data integration will allow Facebook to get to know users more intimately. In addition, you can take advantage of this new information to target users with more advertising and expand even more.
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Finally, and perhaps most concerning, is that by integrating its applications, Facebook could legitimately respond to antitrust lawsuits by saying that it cannot separate Instagram or WhatsApp from the main Facebook platform, because now they are the same.
And if they can’t be separated, there’s no way Facebook could sell Instagram or WhatsApp, even if it wanted to.
MONOPOLISTIC BEHAVIOR
Message traffic on Facebook platforms is huge, with over 100 billion messages sent daily. And this has only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A girl in a protective mask looks at her phone in the park in the Porta Nuova district, as Italy begins the staged end of a national shutdown due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Milan, Italy, May 4. 2020. REUTERS / Flavio Lo Scalzo
With the sheer size of its user database, Facebook continues to buy or crush its competition. Concerns that the company is a monopoly are not unfounded.
Researchers and founding employees of Facebook have called for the company to be split, and for Instagram and WhatsApp to be separated again.
Just a few months ago, Facebook launched its Instagram-hosted Reels tool, which bears a striking resemblance to TikTok, another social app that spans the world.
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It seems this is just another example of Facebook trying to use the size of its network to stifle growing competition, aided (perhaps unknowingly) by Donald Trump’s anti-China sentiment.
If competition is important to fostering innovation and diversity, then Facebook’s most recent development discourages both. It further entrenches Facebook and its services in the lives of consumers, making it more difficult to walk away.
And this is certainly not far from monopoly behavior.
Tama Leaver is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. This comment first appeared on The Conversation.
