Meta is ready to tell everyone how WhatsApp and Messenger will offer end-to-end encryption (E2EE) while adhering to the Digital Markets Act (DMA)'s third-party chat requirements
The DMA requires that Meta be “ready to enable interoperability with other services within three months of receiving a request,” but according to the blog post, it could take longer than that to actually be operational for public use
The requirements also only mandate support for one-on-one chats and file sharing such as photos, videos or voice messages “in the first year” of the new regulation before expanding over time to include chats and group calls, according to The Verge report
Meta says third-party providers will have to sign an agreement to interact with Messenger and WhatsApp before the company will work with them to implement it.
The company requires other providers to use WhatsApp's Signal protocol for encryption, but says it will accept others if it finds they meet the same security standards
The company promises that E2EE conversations will be secure in transit, whether the other provider is using Signal or not, however Meta will not guarantee that the apps on the receiving end of WhatsApp and Messenger users' conversations won't do anything malicious