Following the Cambridge Analytica data breachscandal that saw Facebook called out for deleting Mark Zuckerberg’s messages from user inboxes, the company has confirmed that it will extend the message deletion feature to all users soon. Facebook revealed its plans to integrate an Unsend button in Messenger that will allow users to delete their sent messages. The company also stated that until the feature is rolled out to all users, it won’t delete any further messages from Zuckerberg.
A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement: “We have discussed this feature several times. And people using our secret message feature in the encrypted version of Messenger can set a timer — and have their messages automatically deleted. We will now be making a broader delete message feature available… We should have done this sooner — and we’re sorry that we did not.”
Currently, the duration of the Facebook Messenger’s message destruction can be set to anywhere between 5 seconds and 1 day. Regarding the upcoming Unsend feature, the company has not yet specified whether this feature would notify the recipients when the message is unsent from their chat. Interestingly enough, the Facebook-owned social media apps WhatsApp and Instagram already offer a message deletion option.
