In the best of interoperable worlds, a user of Apple’s Messages app should be able to chat with someone on Telegram, without anyone having to change messaging. It’s still a sweet dream, but things are moving on the side of Meta which is preparing the opening of WhatsApp to competition.
In the European Union, the Meta access controller is obliged to open its messaging services – WhatsApp and Messenger – to competition. This means that both platforms will allow their users to communicate with their friends and colleagues who use other applications (Signal, iMessage, Telegram, etc.).
WhatsApp will soon be open to all winds
Meta will detail its messaging plan for compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) next month, but Wired has already obtained some information on this interoperability which is not self-evident. Messaging platforms have in fact raised the walls of their closed garden in recent years, so we must turn back, which technically is not obvious!
Meta did not wait for the implementation of the European text to open WhatsApp. In fact, the group has been working on ways to allow other messaging services to “connect” to WhatsApp and Messenger for two years now. The DMA, the main provisions of which will come into force on March 7, leaves additional time for messaging interoperability. On the Meta side, we initially focus on text messages, sending images, voice messages, videos and files.
Calls and group discussions will come later. To benefit from this, users must first activate the access function with third-party messaging services. Messages from other platforms will then be grouped in a special tab present in the inbox, as we saw in a recent WhatsApp beta.
Read WhatsApp will be able to receive and send messages to competing services in Europe
Interoperability between WhatsApp/Messenger and the rest of the world will not happen overnight. Competing messengers will first have to sign an agreement with Meta and respect its conditions. There is also the question of security of exchanges: Meta recommends using the Signal encryption protocol, which is already at work in the company’s applications (it is also used in Google Messages and Skype). Third-party apps have the option of keeping their in-house protocol, if they manage to demonstrate its robustness.
To send messages, third-party apps will need to encrypt them with the Signal protocol, then package them in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format. To receive messages from WhatsApp or Messenger, third-party apps will have to connect to Meta servers. At present, none of the largest have wanted to confirm working with the access controller on the subject with the exception of Threema… which indicated that the proposed system was not up to its security standards and confidentiality.
It is difficult in these conditions to say whether messaging interoperability will succeed in overcoming these obstacles. Perhaps the platforms will eventually come to an agreement among themselves, if user demand is strong enough.
Reading iMessage could avoid opening up to competition in Europe
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By: Opera
Source :
Wired