‘Facebook wants universal infrastructure for WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger’

According to The New York Times, Facebook plans to base WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger on the same underlying infrastructure. For example, a Facebook user should be able to send an end-to-end encrypted message to a WhatsApp user.

WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger will continue to exist as separate apps, according to the claimed plans, but the underlying platform would be uniform. The New York Times reports that based on four sources who are familiar with Facebook’s strategy.

It would be early plans. Facebook’s goal is to have the infrastructure ready by the end of this year, early next year. The underlying platform must then support end-to-end encryption. Currently WhatsApp has it by default, while Messenger has support for it, but it doesn’t have it turned on by default. It is not clear what the exact plans with encryption and metadata are. Facebook has the potential to more efficiently aggregate user data.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been rumored for months with the idea of ​​integrating the company’s family of apps. At the end of last year, he would emphasize his plans to employees. The integration would include users more in Facebook’s ecosystem, making them less likely to switch to rival services. The switch to a uniform underlying platform would also offer more options for advertisements and services.

The plans would contradict statements after the WhatsApp and Instagram acquisitions. Then the promise was that the different platforms would continue to exist on their own. Dissatisfied with the increasing influence of Facebook and with the plans for the future, the founders of Instagram and WhatsApp left Facebook earlier.