There are changes to WhatsApp and Messenger due to the arrival of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe. These apps are required to allow interoperability between messaging apps but, even though the new DMA is now effective, we still cannot enjoy sending messages between apps. I'll explain why.
The Digital Markets Law requires interoperability between apps
The European Union has taken an important step by proposing new regulations towards a greater competition in the digital market with the approval of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This new regulation It has been active since last March 7 and will have a significant impact on messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Messenger and other apps.
One of the key points of the DMA is the obligation for large messaging platforms to interoperate with third-party services. This means that, in the future, WhatsApp users will be able to communicate with users of other messaging apps, such as Telegram, without having to change platforms.
And I say in the future since, although the new Digital Markets Law is already present, The rest of the applications have to meet security requirements In order to make this interoperability effective in messaging, as we already told you in the WhatsApp news for this month of March. But this is a process that cannot be carried out overnight.
WhatsApp proposes some requirements that the rest of the apps must meet
Now, given the obligation of the DMAs to make this change, WhatsApp and Messenger maintain their end-to-end encryption protocol (E2EE) in their conversations. These companies do not want to risk the security of their apps and therefore force the rest of the apps that want to interoperate with them to adopt this encryption system.
This is a good thing for users who will see how, to compete among themselves, Instant messaging apps will have to gradually improve their message encryption. Of course, the change is not going to be instantaneous, Meta warns that this process can take years. That is why we will have to wait to be able to use this new functionality.
It may end up affecting beyond Europe
The adoption of these measures in Europe is already being carried out by Meta apps and other applications. Now, it is possible that this regulation could be extended to other parts of the world. In fact, there would be several reasons that could motivate other countries adopt these measures.
In fact, concern about data privacy is not something unique to Europe but is also a concern in other parts of the world such as the United States or India.
Additionally, the implementation of end-to-end encryption e2ee They have proven effective by encrypting data to make it secure. Besides, This encryption option may incentivize other global companies to adopt this data encryption, even if it is simply due to market pressure.