Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is back at it again, patching up the company's damaged reputation when it comes to privacy.
This week, the social media giant announced the introduction of end-to-end encryptions on chat services Messenger and WhatsApp. It would also make the two platforms more compatible.
It's part of the company's new "privacy focused vision", which Zuckerberg outlined in a lengthy 3000 word post to his own official Facebook page.
Message encryption is the focus, but the changes won't affect the big problem areas - like the data on our profiles, or anything to do with Instagram.
So, naturally, people aren't really buying Zuckerberg's "new vision".
"It's a classic bait and switch"
"I believe Mark Zuckerberg is a con artist," says David Vaile, Director of UNSW's Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre.
It’s marketing and advertising spin.
"They have the greatest marketing and advertising ability in the world and it's based on spying on people through their social media platforms."
Zuckerberg insists the changes will make users' data safer.
But he admitted the Facebook doesn't have a "strong reputation for building privacy protective services."
Cambridge Analytica played a big part in this. The 2018 scandal saw millions of Facebook users' personal information harvested for political purposes.
It also saw shares in Facebook drop more than $100 billion in mere days.
Vaile says the big show around Messenger encryption is a classic bait and switch.
The con is [making you think] you have to worry someone else breaking into your communications, not Facebook itself,
“These changes won’t stop Facebook from doing all the other monitoring.”
