Facebook adds unsend feature to Messenger

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,256   +192
Staff member
Why it matters: Facebook has finally made good on its promise to add an “unsend” feature to Messenger, granting users up to 10 minutes to retract messages from Messenger chat logs. Offending messages can still be reported to Facebook, however, so users aren't being entirely let off the hook for bad behavior.

The social network came under fire last April when it was discovered that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives seemingly had the power to delete their messages from users’ inboxes. Normally, when someone deletes a message from a conversation (like via e-mail), it’s only done so locally, and the other party retains a copy.

Because Facebook controls the entire communications channel with Messenger, certain executives were able to delete all copies of messages. Critically, Facebook never bothered to tell the public about this ability.

Shortly after, Facebook said it would be building an unsend feature for everyone. It’s taken nearly 10 months but said feature is now available to everyone on Android and iOS.

To remove a message, simply tap it and select the “Remove for Everyone” option. You will have up to 10 minutes to remove an unintended message after sending it.

Curiously, there’s also the option to “Remove for You” which will only remove a message from your view, not everyone else in the chat. Try as I might, I can’t think of a scenario where this would be useful. If you're into Facebook communications you may also want to try their Messenger Lite.

Lead image courtesy pathdoc via Shutterstock

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Meh. Facebook still knows every message you send, archive it somewhere, and share it with the government! Yay!
 
And what will happen if you remove the MSG for yourself by mistake, will be able to remove it for everyone later on or not ???
 
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