Meta-owned WhatsApp is one of the messaging apps that keeps working on its features and brings out new updates to improve user experience, and this time, the developers are rolling out a new feature called “kept messages”, WaBetaInfo reported Tuesday.
WhatsApp is introducing this new feature the Google Play Beta Program, bringing the version up to 2.23.4.10. However, some users might get access to this feature if they install one of these updates: 2.23.4.6 and 2.23.4.8.
This feature is being released for some beta testers as of now. The messaging app plans to release to a wider audience in a future update.
This feature allows users to keep messages from disappearing so that they can stay in the chat for everyone to see.
This feature was under development for a long time, now, it is being rolled out in the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.4.10 update from Play Store.
This feature is for the business version of WhatsApp.
Users can find this option called “kept messages” in the chat information once it is available to them. This feature will allow users to keep a message from disappearing.
—WaBetaInfo
Some of the users have the disappearing message feature turned on, and with the “keep messages” feature, the message will no longer disappear from the chat. However, users will still be able to delete the messages at any time.
This section will have all the kept messages so that all users in the chat can easily find them whenever they want.
Users cannot keep a disappearing message at the moment as this new feature will be accessible in the future.
“In addition, when it will be possible to keep messages from disappearing, the ability to mark messages as starred and the starred messages section within chat info will be removed for disappearing chats because it makes no sense to star those messages in case they’re going to disappear,” said the app tracking website.
Meta’s social media platforms of Facebook and Instagram have become fertile grounds for child predators and paedophiles, revealed New Mexico’s Attorney General, Raul Torrez in a lawsuit.
Torrez’s office used fake accounts to conduct investigations and discovered that these fake accounts of minors were dispatched ‘solicitations’ and explicit content.
The lawsuit seeks court-ordered changes to protect minors, asserting that Meta has neglected voluntary actions to address these issues effectively.
In its response, Meta defended its initiatives in eradicating predators. However, New Mexico’s investigation disclosed a higher prevalence of exploitative material on Facebook and Instagram compared to adult content platforms.
Attorney General Torrez underscored the platforms’ unsafe nature for children, describing them as hotspots for predators to engage in illicit activities.
While US law shields platforms from content liability, the lawsuit argues that Meta’s algorithms actively promote sexually exploitative material, transforming the platforms into a marketplace for child predators.
The lawsuit accuses Meta of misleading users about platform safety, violating laws prohibiting deceptive practices, and creating an unsafe product.
Moreover, the lawsuit targets Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg personally, alleging contradictory actions in enhancing child safety while steering the company in the opposite direction.
In response, Meta reiterated its commitment to combating child exploitation, emphasizing its use of technology and collaborations with law enforcement to address these concerns.
Meta announced Thursday that it is finally implementing end-to-end encryption for one-on-one conversations and calls on Messenger, delivering on a long-standing commitment.
The company states that when end-to-end encryption is enabled, the only people who can view the contents of a message sent through Messenger are the sender and the recipient.
We’re starting to roll out default end-to-end encryption for personal calls and messages on @messenger. This isn’t a routine security update: we rebuilt the app from the ground up, in close consultation with privacy and safety experts. We added some new features too: you can now… pic.twitter.com/c7HhrjJWPf
Messenger’s encrypted chat function was initially made available as an opt-in feature in 2016. However, following a protracted legal dispute, end-to-end encrypted messages and calls for two-person discussions will now be considered the norm.
“This has taken years to deliver because we’ve taken our time to get this right,” Loredana Crisan, vice president of Messenger, said in a statement shared with The Verge.
“Our engineers, cryptographers, designers, policy experts and product managers have worked tirelessly to rebuild Messenger features from the ground up.”
A representational picture of Messenger’s new feature. — Meta
Crisan states that encrypted chats will not compromise Messenger features like themes and custom reactions. However, it may “take some time” for all chats to switch to default encryption.
The end-to-end encryption for group chats is still opt-in. Additionally, Instagram messages are still not encrypted by default, but Meta expects this to happen “shortly after” the rollout of default private Messenger chats.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019 that the company planned to move toward encrypted ephemeral messages across its messaging apps, according to The Verge.
“I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “This is the future I hope we will help bring about.”
By enabling encryption by default, most Messenger chats should remain unseen by Meta, and it will also prevent the company from providing the data to law enforcement.
Last year, a 17-year-old from Nebraska and her mother faced criminal charges for illegal abortion after police obtained their Messenger chat history.
Anti-encryption advocates argue that encryption makes it harder to identify bad actors on encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp.
Tesla chief Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is making waves in the AI world, aiming to raise a substantial $1 billion to compete head-on with OpenAI’s widely-used ChatGPT technology.
According to recent filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, xAI has already amassed $134.7 million and is striving to amass the billion-dollar mark.
The filing indicates Musk’s strong commitment to gathering the entire sum, hinting that he might have secured deals to achieve this ambitious target.
Musk recently showcased “Grok,” a chatbot similar to ChatGPT, trained on data from X (previously Twitter), which he acquired for $44 billion last year.
Musk initiated xAI in July, recruiting top researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Tesla, and the University of Toronto. He expressed that the company’s goal is to “understand the true nature of the universe.”
Since the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT a year ago, there has been intense competition among tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Meta, and startups such as Anthropic and Stability AI. Earlier this year, OpenAI reportedly secured commitments of an astounding $13 billion from Microsoft.
Musk’s fundraising efforts coincide with a tumultuous period at OpenAI, as CEO Sam Altman’s return after a brief dismissal has led to delays in the company’s anticipated share sale. Reports suggest the sale, valuing OpenAI between $80 and $90 billion, faced hindrances due to internal disruptions.