Mixed Reactions as Facebook Messenger Now Allows Users Delete Messages

Social media giant, Facebook, announced on Tuesday that it is rolling out the unsend feature for messages sent by users on its Messenger platform.

The rollout which has now been effected globally, allows users to unsend any message delivered through Messenger, be it to a single person or to a group chat.

🚨 Facebook Messenger unsend feature will give you 10 minutes to delete a message! 👍 pic.twitter.com/7vEvqV0TjG

— Larry Kim (@larrykim) February 6, 2019

The caveat however is that a message can only be deleted within 10 minutes of sending after which it becomes permanent.

Facebook started working on making the feature available for all its users last year. This was after it was discovered that Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg and other senior executives could remove their messages from recipient’s inbox.

This means the feature has been available all along but only to a privileged few.

How it Works

To access this feature, you first have to tap on the message you want to remove. A menu with an option to “Remove for Everyone” will appear (just like on WhatsApp). If that option is selected, the message will be removed and Messenger will notify the recipient(s) of its removal.

You can also decide to delete a message for yourself only. But if you do, the content would be available for everyone else except you.

The new feature is very important as it makes it possible to retract accidental messages, typographical errors and other messages that users may decide they didn’t want to send after all.

It is for this reason that many users are happy that Facebook has joined other platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp in rolling out the feature.

Late night weekends won't be full of regrets for some.

— Ash-Li (@Ash_Lisc) February 7, 2019

It was about time already!

— Ever 💎 (@Teibit) November 15, 2018

https://twitter.com/EnricoAbufinzio/status/1093178073657282560?s=19

Although some others feel its way overdue for the social media giant.

@Viber has had the Delete For Me & Delete For All (Unsend in Facebook parlance) for ages. Plus end-to-end encryption, trusted parties, simultaneous multi-platform operation (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows) and your personal information is not sold to the four corners of the earth.

— Uncle Pester (@pj_neris) February 5, 2019

This woulda been cool in like ‘07.. ‘08.. 🤷🏾‍♂️

— Max Powers 🇭🇹 (@7thWonder06) February 5, 2019

While some others raised concerns about how Facebook would be handling deleted messages.

By unsend they mean hide. They'll obviously still store your messages for data mining.

— Vintila Laurentiu 🌿🌱🌍🇺🇦 (@Vantalk) February 6, 2019

https://twitter.com/kubernawt/status/1092808705505136640?s=19

Their fears may be founded though because according to CBS News, Facebook intends to retain deleted messages for a period “in case it is reported”.

The new feature is available for latest messenger apps. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments below.