Mark Zuckerberg is warning Facebook Messenger users not to screenshot their chats.
Zuckerberg co-founded the social media service Facebook alongside his university roommates.
He’s now the chairman, chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of its parent company Meta Platform.
His early career, legal troubles and initial success with Facebook was even turned into a film called The Social Network.
Now, Zuckerberg is sending a reminder – and warning – to Facebook users… don’t screenshot your chats.
Basically, Facebook launched a feature in 2020 that made messages disappear on Facebook and Instagram called Vanish Mode.
Vanish Mode ensured messages disappeared after the recipient had seen them and left the chat.
At the time, Facebook said: “Sometimes a message is just spontaneous – something you want to say in the moment without worrying about it sticking around. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Vanish Mode on Messenger, which lets you send messages that disappear automatically.”
This feature could be turned on by swiping up on a mobile device in an existing chat thread. It could be set back to the original mode by a user swiping up on their screen again.
Bridget Pujals, Messenger Product Manager, and Manik Singh, Instagram Product Manager, said in a statement (via USA Today): “We designed Vanish Mode with safety and choice in mind, so you control your experience.”
Vanish Mode first dropped in the US but later rolled out to countries in the EU.
It now says on the Facebook Help Center that the feature is ‘no longer supported’, however, there are disappearing messages.
“Disappearing messages are gradually being introduced and may not be available to you yet,” it adds.
The feature can be accessed by clicking on the person’s name you are talking to in Messenger and scrolling down to Privacy and Support, there you will find Disappearing Messages.
The description warns: “If someone takes a screenshot or screen recording, a notification will appear in the chat.”
Zuckerberg has warned Facebook Messenger users about screenshotting chats in a post on the social media platform.
It reads: “New update for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats so you get a notification if someone screenshots a disappearing message.
“We’re also adding GIFs, stickers, and reactions to encrypted chats too.”
The Facebook founder shared an exchange between him and his wife, Priscilla Chan. He made a cheesy joke about a supercomputer and his spouse took a screenshot, demonstrating how the notification will work.
