Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to put privacy first and revealed a series of changes to the firm’s portfolio of social platforms, including Instagram and Whatsapp.
The new designs and features for its apps are a direct response to widespread criticism of how the firm protects user data and he acknowledged that there was much to do to rebuild trust.
In a speech in front of about 5,000 attendees in San Jose, California, which revolved around his desire to make Facebook privacy-centric, Zuckerberg described the firm’s new focus on privacy as “a major shift” in how the company is run.
Some of the more visible include:
Messages sent via Messenger will be end-to-end encrypted by default.
Messenger will be fully integrated with WhatsApp.
Instagram posts will no longer have to start with a photo or a video.
On Instagram it will be possible to share content using just text, stickers or drawings thanks to a new “create” camera mode.
A WhatsApp secure payment service is to be rolled out to other countries later this year.
The Facebook app is being redesigned to make community groups central to the newsfeed – and the distinctive blue branding is going.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook demonstrates Facebook Apps compared to others during the keynote F8 Facebook Developer Conference at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, USA.
The company shared more news around its Facebook Dating feature, which was originally announced at F8 last year. The tool is undergoing testing in countries such as Colombia and Canada, and will roll out to 14 more countries today and to the United States later this year. People will be able to use their first name to set up a dating profile on the platform, but it won’t be visible to friends and will not show up in News Feeds.
The future is private,” Mr Zuckerberg said in a nod to the tech giant’s stream of privacy scandals.
