Zuckerberg Announces Plans for Privacy Focused Facebook

Privacy Focused

After a year of turmoil, Mark Zuckerberg details plans for a ‘privacy-focused’ Facebook.

In Zuckerberg’s Facebook blog, he detailed his idea to transform the social network into a “privacy-focused messaging and social networking platform”. Zuckerberg explains how communication platforms that protect privacy will “become even more important than today’s open platforms”.

“Facebook and Instagram have helped people connect with friends, communities and interests in the digital equivalent of a town square” wrote Zuckerberg, however people increasingly want to “connect privately in the digital equivalent of the living room”.

Zuckerberg’s blog related to his previously announced plan to merge the messaging service of its three hugely popular apps: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.

After stating he believes the future of communication will increasingly gravitate to private, encrypted services, Zuckerberg revealed more information about his upcoming vision …

“We plan to build this the way we’ve developed WhatsApp: focus on the most fundamental and private use case — messaging — make it as secure as possible, and then build more ways for people to interact on top of that, including calls, video chats, groups, stories, businesses, payments, commerce, and ultimately a platform for many other kinds of private services.”

The new privacy focused platform will be built around 6 key principles:

  1. 1. Private interactions
  2. 2. Encryption
  3. 3. Reducing permanence
  4. 4. Safety
  5. 5. Interoperability
  6. 6. Secure data storage

The shift follows Facebook’s trial of data scandals and the spread of disinformation catchup here:

Zuckerberg ended his blog with, “I believe we should be working towards a world where people can speak privately and live freely knowing that their information will only be seen by who they want to see it and won’t all stick around forever. If we can help move the world in this direction, I will be proud of the difference we’ve made.”

But what do you think? Is Zuckerberg moving social media in the right direction? Should Facebook become more privacy-focused? Or would you like the platform to stay as it is? Let us know in the comments section below.