revealed more details on how it can interact with third-party messaging apps and . It is required from the company To some degree comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new European Union law that came into effect this week.
“We believe that the best way to ensure interoperability is with a solution based on Meta’s existing client/server architecture,” – Meta “Our approach to implementing interoperability is the best way to meet DMA requirements, while also creating a viable approach for third-party providers interested in interacting with Meta and enhancing user security and privacy.”
Meta said it is working on interoperability with the European Commission . To begin with, interoperability must support text-based messages and the ability to share images, voice recordings, videos, and other files. In the future, Meta will need to enable group chats and calls between WhatsApp and Messenger and third-party apps.
For now, third-party developers will have to use the Signal protocol to connect to Messenger and WhatsApp. Meta for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in both applications, “because it represents the current gold standard for E2EE conversations.” Developers will have the option to use the compatible protocol, but only if they “can demonstrate that it offers the same security guarantees as Signal.”
Meta notes that when it comes to messaging entirely within the WhatsApp and Messenger ecosystems, it controls both sending and receiving clients. In such cases, it can confirm that only the sender and intended recipients can see the messages.
However, he added that “while we have built a secure solution for the interaction that uses Signaling protocol encryption to protect messages in transit, without ownership of both clients (endpoints), we cannot guarantee what a third-party provider will do with messages sent or received.” . , and therefore we cannot promise the same.” As such, Meta points out that messages coming from or sent to a third-party app may not be as secure as messages that remain entirely within its own ecosystem.
Developers who connect their apps to WhatsApp and Messenger will have to host the media files they send to the Meta platforms on their own servers. WhatsApp or Messenger will then download the media via the Meta proxy service.
To enable interoperability, manufacturers of third-party messaging applications must sign an agreement with Meta. The company notes that it should be ready to enable interaction with another service within three months of receiving a request, although “it may take longer for the functionality to be ready for public use.”
