Mark Zuckerberg revealed why screenshotting is a bad idea. Credit: Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Facebook founder and CEO announced that an update to Messenger could mean that users are now notified if another person takes a snapshot of their chat.

“New update for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats so you get a notification if someone screenshots a disappearing message,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post in January 2022.

The post included a screenshot of Zuckerberg’s conversation with his wife, Priscilla Chan, to demonstrate how the new notifications would work.

“We’re also adding GIFs, stickers, and reactions to encrypted chats too,” he added. The announcement came in the wake of another big update to Facebook’s popular Messenger platform – disappearing messages. Already a feature on many competitor social media sites (such as Snapchat), these allow users to send messages that will quickly vanish from the screen. So far, the feature has been rolled out across the U.S. and is expected to be made available for European Facebook users, The Independent reported.

Screenshot notifications are already available on Snapchat, where they have been a popular feature for several years.

Mark Zuckerberg has warned users not to screenshot their chats – unless they want to be caught in the act. Credit: Drew Angerer / Getty
Reports suggest that the update – which will also apply to Instagram, which is owned by parent company Meta – has been introduced in response to concerns around security.

Meanwhile, reactions to Zuckerberg’s post – which has amassed over 94,000 comments – were mixed, with many making the point that there are multiple ways to cheat the screenshot notification.

“Screen recorder will do I guess,” wrote one person.

“What if someone used another mobile phone to take a photo of the conversation?” suggested another.

“Now we will use another mobile for capturing photo instead of screenshot,” agreed a third.

The Facebook founder and CEO announced that an update to Messenger could mean that users are now notified if another person takes a snapshot of their chat. Credit: Matt Cardy / Getty
“You turn the wifi/ data off then you take the screenshot .. you turn it on again and you keep messaging like a hero,” added a fourth tech-savvy user.

Others were unimpressed by the update, suggesting Facebook put their energies into more pressing situations.

“I have to say, what you’ve accomplished IS super cool. However… I wish the same energy was put into making REAL LIFE better for humanity instead of the virtual one. Nothing will ever be better than human-to-human connection & interaction,” one person wrote.

Featured image credit: Kevin Dietsch / Getty