WhatsApp could be adding a new feature to comply with new EU regulations.
The company behind the secure messaging app was recently spotted to be developing a feature that allows it to work with other messaging apps.
WhatsApp may soon release this new feature in the EU as the region is already enforcing the new regulation in question.
Playing Nice With Other Messaging Apps
Meta, like other tech companies doing business in the EU, must comply with regulations to do business in them. To do so, the tech giant is requiring the companies it acquired - like WhatsApp - to release features to comply with them.
One of these features is called "Third-party Chats," according to WABetaInfo's latest report. The publication spotted the feature's existence when it accessed WhatsApp's beta update 2.23.19.8 for Android devices.
A closer look at the update revealed nothing because the feature in question is still in the early stages of its development. However, the publication's X post stated that the feature is meant to add chat interoperability to the app.
Android Authority explained in its article that WhatsApp's upcoming Third-party Chats feature will allow it to communicate with users from other messaging services without needing to install and sign up for WhatsApp. As such, if someone strongly prefers a specific messaging app, such as Signal, this new feature will let WhatsApp users use WhatsApp to contact users on Signal and vice versa.
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How WhatsApp will make interoperability happen with its app is unclear while also keeping its promises of safety and encryption and retaining compatibility with features like Communities. Nevertheless, it will be an interesting challenge for Meta and WhatsApp to address.
WhatsApp users in the EU can expect this feature to come to WhatsApp in a future update on or before March 2024. The company is required by EU law to complete this feature within the six-month grace period the organization provided.
It is unknown if WhatsApp - or even Meta - is considering offering interoperability features in regions outside the EU. Based on what WABetaInfo reported, the feature can help reduce the number of messaging apps people sign up to, secure or otherwise.
The New Regulation In The EU
The new EU regulation act in question is the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to ensure that "gatekeepers" behave in " a fair way online." It is part of the EU's European digital strategy, with the Digital Services Act being the other.
The EU's DMA defines gatekeepers as companies with the following attributes:
- has a strong economic position, significant impact on the internal market, and is active in multiple EU countries
- has a strong intermediation position, meaning that it links a large user base to a large number of businesses
- has (or is about to have) an entrenched and durable position in the market, meaning that it is stable over time if the company met the two criteria above in each of the last three financial years
Thanks to this criteria, the EU named seven tech giants as gatekeepers, with Meta being one of them, per Engadget. The others are Google's parent company, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, Microsoft, and Samsung.
One of the DMA's tenets states that gatekeepers are prohibited from favoring their own services and must allow interoperability with third parties. To clarify this tenet, the European Commission named several apps subject to it; Meta's messaging apps, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, fall under this tenet.
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