Facebook Confirms It Reads Users’ Private Messages

Facebook has confirmed this week that it scans the content of messages, images, and links sent through its Messenger, all for the purpose of adhering to the site’s rules.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, let the cat out of the bag in an interview with Vox, where he mentioned incidents related to ethnic cleansing in Myanmar – where people spread fake news via Messenger inciting a bloody confrontation between Muslims and Buddhists – explaining how their system automatically detects undesirable content that is later manually reviewed by moderators, reports Thenextweb.

Facebook stated that this is in line with their policy of monitoring public content posted on their site, and this is the first time the company has indirectly stated that it considers private messages in Messenger to be public, at least regarding their internal control systems.

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– When you send a photo on Facebook, our system automatically scans it to compare it with known examples of child exploitation. When you send a link, the system automatically checks whether it contains viruses or malware. Facebook designed these systems to stop the abuse of the platform as quickly as possible, said a spokesperson.

This admission could rightfully anger many who truly believed that Messenger was private. The company added that they do not collect data from private conversations to later sell it to advertisers, but to prevent the spread of fake news, propaganda, and misinformation that incites violence or promotes pedophilia. Although preventing bloodshed is a commendable attempt by Facebook, the level of potential intrusion into privacy carries with it many potential areas for the misuse of private data by the social network.