WhatsApp to introduce interoperability features to comply with EU

After the six-month deadline granted by the European Union’s DMA to offer interoperability with other services has passed, it seems that Meta is going to make a move In this sense, within the community space, since it will make new options available to the users of this area that will allow Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to interact with third-party applicationsThis will add to the possibility of keeping them separate because the use of interoperability is not mandatory for users.

In addition to the way conversations are organized between WhatsApp and Messenger, Meta is also creating new notifications that will let users know when they can link conversations from compatible apps. The parent company says it has “gone beyond the ‘basic’ functions required for interoperable messaging” by providing features like reactions, direct replies, typing indicators, and read receipts.

As has been demonstrated on several occasions, the European Union does not hesitate to fine large American corporations that do not comply with current legislation within the community space, so Meta will introduce next year in its messaging services an option to create groups with other people in third-party chats. This, far from stopping there, will go further. in the future with support for video calls and voice calls, which according to the company’s plans should arrive in 2027Third-party interoperability means that both WhatsApp and Messenger must be interoperable with third-party apps like iMessage, Telegram, Google Message, Signal, and others.

Meta is considered one of the gatekeepers (gatekeepers) for the DMA alongside Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, Apple, Bytedance (the company behind TikTok) and Microsoft. However, it is important to note that the law does not affect companies as a whole, but rather specific services that operate under them. This has allowed Apple and Microsoft to get away with complying with regard to their iMessage and Bing services respectively, while Opera has asked for the Edge web browser to be included.

In addition to interoperability, the DMA establishes that the services indicated cannot do the following things: classify their own services and products more favorably than similar ones offered by third parties through the platform of the gatekeeperprevent consumers from contacting companies outside the platform of the gatekeeperprevent users from uninstalling pre-installed programs or applications if they so choose and track end users outside of the core platform service. gatekeeper for personalized advertising purposes.

Obviously, interoperability with other services involves not only legal issues, but also technical ones. Here WhatsApp and Messenger will use the same Signal protocol to maintain the privacy of messagesIn a copy of the agreement that third-party services must sign, Meta says it will make Signal’s protocol available to partners upon request.

Source: www.muycomputer.com