Facebook Messenger starts deploying Unsend; here is how it works – TechCrunch



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Facebook secretly retracted messages sent by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TechCrunch reported seven months ago. Now for the first time, Facebook Messenger users will also have the power not to send their documents so they can delete the messages they have sent from the recipient's inbox. Messages can only be sent for the first 10 minutes after they are sent, allowing you to correct an error or delete an item that you inadvertently pushed, but you will not be able to edit the old history. Formally called "Delete for Everyone", the button also leaves a "tombstone" indicating that a message has been retracted. And to prevent bullies from using this feature to cover their tracks, Facebook will keep unsent messages for a short time. Therefore, if they are reported, they can check them if the policy is violated.

The Delete feature is currently deployed in Poland, Bolivia, Colombia and Lithuania on Messenger for iOS and Android. A Facebook spokesperson told me that the plan was to roll it out globally as soon as possible, although this may be influenced by the update deadline of the holiday App Store. . In the meantime, he is also working on a larger number of unsent features, including the ability to preemptively set expiration dates for specific messages or entire threads.

"The benefits are that users want to be in control. . . and if you make a mistake, you can correct it. We wanted to allow a lot of legitimate use cases, "said Facebook Messenger Manager Stan Chudnovsky. tells me in an exclusive interview. But on the other hand, he says, "We must make sure we do not open new places to bully. We need to make sure that people do not send you bad messages, and then remove them, because if you report them and the messages are not there, we will not be able to do anything. "

Zuckerberg did it; soon you can too

Facebook first informed TechCrunch that it would create a mailing feature in April after reporting that six sources were telling me that some of Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook posts had been silently removed from recipients' inboxes, including non-recipients. -employees without gravestone instead. We saw this as a violation of user trust and abuse of corporate power, as the public had no way of returning their own messages.

Facebook claimed that this was intended to protect the privacy of its executives and the company's trade secrets, telling me, "After the cracking of Sony Pictures emails in 2014, we made a number of changes to protect the communications of our leaders. These included limiting the retention period for Mark messages in Messenger. But it also seems likely that Facebook also wanted to avoid another embarrassing situation, such as the leakage of Zuckerberg's old instant messages dating back to 2004. During an overwhelming exchange, Zuckerberg told a friend, "If you need some information about someone at Harvard. . . you just have to ask . . . I have more than 4000 emails, photos, addresses, sns. "What? how did you manage that one? replied the friend, "People have just submitted it." I do not know why … they trust me … stupid fuck, "replied Zuckerberg.

The company told me that it was already working on a sending cancellation button for everyone and that it would no longer delete messages from leaders before it was launched. Chudnovsky told me that he felt like "I would have liked that we launch that sooner" when the news was announced. But six months later passed without any progress or comment from Facebook before TechCrunch announced that informant Jane Manchun Wong had spotted Facebook prototyping the Delete feature. Then, a week ago, the Facebook Messenger App Store's release notes accidentally mentionned that a 10-minute Unsend button would be coming soon.

So why wait seven months? Especially since Instagram already allows users to not send messages, regardless of their age. "The reason it took so long was because, server side, it's a lot harder. All messages are stored on the server, and this enters the main transport layer of our messaging system, "explains Chudnovsky. "It was difficult to do with our architecture, but we were still concerned about the integrity issues that would open up." The company is now convinced of the technical challenge of ensuring that an unsent message reliably disappears from the recipient.

"The question becomes," Who does this message belong to? "Before this message is sent to your Messenger application, it belongs to me, but when that happens, it will probably belong to both of us," said Chudnovsky's pontificate.

How the Facebook Messenger "Delete for Everyone" Button Works

Facebook has opted for the possibility to allow you to delete any type of message (text, group discussions, photos, videos, links, etc.) within 10 minutes of sending. You can always delete any message on your side of the conversation, but only the messages you have sent can be deleted from their recipients. You can not remove from anyone else what they sent you, tells me Kat Chui, public relations manager of this feature. And Facebook will keep a private copy of the message a few moments after it is removed to ensure that it can check if it is subject to harassment.

To use the cancel function, tap and hold the message you sent, and select "Delete." You will get the "Delete for Everyone" options that will retract the message or "Delete for you", which will replace the old delete. option and leave the message in the recipient's inbox. You will receive a warning saying "You will permanently delete this message for all members of the chat. They can see that you have deleted a message and report it anyway. "If you confirm the deletion, a line of text saying" you [or the sender’s name] deleted a message "(called tombstone) will appear in the thread where the message was located. If you would like to post a deleted message for abuse or for another problem, tap the person's name, select "Something's wrong" and select the appropriate category, for example harassment or pretense of being someone. one of the others.

Why the limit of 10 minutes specifically? "We have examined the operation of the existing deletion feature. It turns out that when people delete messages because it's a mistake or they send something they do not want to send, it's less than a minute. We decided to extend it to 10, but we decided not to do more, "reveals Chudnovsky.

He says he does not know if the Facebook security team will resume the removal of messages to leaders. However, he points out that the Unsend button that Facebook launches "is certainly not the same feature" as the one used in Zuckerberg's messages. If Facebook really wanted to respect its users, it would insert at least the tombstone when it would erase old messages frames.

Messenger also builds more unsent features. Based on the encrypted e-mail function of Signal, Chudnovsky tells me: "Hypothetically, if I want all messages to be deleted after six months, they will be purged. This is something that can be configured at the level of each thread, "even if Facebook continues to tinker with details. Another option would be for Facebook to extend to all cats the expiration date option by message from its encrypted secret message feature.

"It's one of those things that seems very simple on the surface. And it would be very easy if the servers were built in one way or another from the beginning, "concludes Chudnovsky. "But it's one of those things philosophically and technologically that once you reach the 1.3 billion scale that's using it, moving from one model to another is much more complicated. manipulate communications … or at least not until the consequences of giving the same power to the public are resolved.

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