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| Instagram allows encrypted messages in Ukraine and Russia |
Meta (formerly Facebook) has announced that encrypted conversations between two people within the Instagram platform are now available to all adults in Ukraine and Russia.
It is part of a series of actions the company has taken in response to the conflict in Ukraine, including restrictions on state media and increased fact-checking.
Instagram users are notified of this option via a notification at the top of the direct message box, informing them that they have the option to encrypt conversations.
Other meta apps, including WhatsApp and Messenger, offer end-to-end encryption. Although this encryption works on WhatsApp by default. But standard end-to-end encryption won't cover Messenger completely until 2023.
Years ago, the company offered the option to enable end-to-end encryption for text calls on Messenger. Additionally, in January, the company launched fully encrypted end-to-end group chats and calls on Messenger.
The company justified its decision to offer security features in Ukraine and Russia. She suggested that without this option, Russian activists openly opposed to the war might be at risk.
“Prominent Russian creators, influencers, activists, and musicians are using Facebook and Instagram to gather information and speak out against snooping,” said Nick Clegg, Head of Global Affairs at META. We hope they continue to do so. We hope that the Russian people will continue to listen to President Zelensky and the rest of Ukraine.
While the Russian government has restricted access to the meta service, the company has made several other changes in recent days amid the crisis.
For users, the changes aren't limited to encrypted direct messages, the company has also rolled out security features for users in Ukraine and Russia, including the ability for users to block accounts via Facebook and the ability to not view and search their friends' lists. . .
Account ban was first introduced in 2020 as a safety option for women in India. This feature prevents Facebook users from seeing posts and photos of people they are not friends with. It also prevents them from zooming in or uploading an account or cover photo.
Instagram offers automatic subtitles for videos
On the other hand, the platform announced the launch of automatic subtitles for videos. Previously, video creators had to add subtitles to videos manually.
Instagram said adding comments makes the platform easier for deaf users.
The new feature is also useful for users who prefer watching videos without sound. The launch comes as TikTok will introduce automatic subtitles in April 2021.
The company confirmed that machine translation will be available in 17 languages, including Arabic. Instagram also notes that the AI behind the captions will continue to improve with learning.
Users can enable or disable automatic translation through the advanced settings of the application.