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In a new statement posted to Facebook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned that you will “get a notification if someone screenshots a disappearing message” within Facebook Messenger.
Zuckerberg announced that the company is introducing an update to “disappearing messages” or “vanish mode,” which makes all new messages disappear within 12 hours. This is similar to how Snapchat functions.
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This notification often dissuades individuals from screenshotting their chats in order to avoid notifying the other person.
Instead, they have to retrieve another phone or camera in order to take a photograph of the chat without screenshotting.
“New update for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats so you get a notification if someone screenshots a disappearing message,” Zuckerberg wrote.
More on this story via IFL Science:
In a screenshot accompanying the announcement, he shows that when the disappearing messages setting is turned on you will be notified with the message “[Facebook user’s name] took a screenshot” whenever you do so.
Users replying to the post appear (by and large) to welcome the new feature, with only a few calling him a snitch, or informing him “now we will use another mobile for capturing photo instead of screenshot”. Another added “Great! Now I’ll be able to see who thought enough of my lingerie pictures to screenshot them for later viewing.”
The feature is widely available in the United States and will be introduced across Europe in the next few weeks, according to USA Today.