In the ever-evolving world of social media, privacy has become a growing concern, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is making sure Facebook Messenger users take it seriously. The tech mogul has issued a strong warning about screenshotting private chats, emphasizing that a new update will notify users whenever their disappearing messages are captured.
As the face behind Facebook, now known as Meta, Zuckerberg has spent years shaping the digital landscape, revolutionizing how people connect online. While his early success and the legal battles surrounding Facebook’s origins were famously dramatized in The Social Network, his focus today is firmly on user privacy and security.
With his latest update, he is reminding users: if you think your secret messages are safe, think again.
The Rise and Fall of Vanish Mode
In 2020, Facebook introduced Vanish Mode, a feature designed for fleeting, in-the-moment conversations. This option allowed users to send temporary messages that automatically disappeared once the recipient had seen them and exited the chat. It was intended to give users a space for spontaneous conversations without the fear of messages lingering indefinitely.
At the time of the launch, Facebook explained, “Sometimes a message is just spontaneous—something you want to say in the moment without worrying about it sticking around. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Vanish Mode on Messenger, which lets you send messages that disappear automatically.”
The feature could easily be activated by swiping up in a chat, instantly switching the conversation into a temporary mode where all messages would vanish after they were read. To revert back, users simply had to swipe up again.
Initially rolled out in the United States, Vanish Mode later expanded to users in Europe and beyond. However, despite its convenience, it was quietly phased out.
Now, according to Facebook’s Help Center, the feature is no longer supported. Instead, it has been replaced by an alternative privacy tool: disappearing messages.
How Disappearing Messages Work
While Vanish Mode may be gone, Facebook hasn’t completely abandoned the idea of temporary conversations. The company has introduced disappearing messages, a new feature designed to allow messages to self-destruct after a set period.
Currently, this feature is being gradually introduced to users worldwide, and not everyone has access yet. To enable disappearing messages, users can navigate to a conversation, tap on the recipient’s name, scroll down to Privacy and Support, and select Disappearing Messages.
Unlike Vanish Mode, which erased messages immediately after the chat was closed, disappearing messages allow users to control the duration before they are deleted. However, even with this added layer of privacy, the risk of someone screenshotting sensitive conversations remains—something Zuckerberg’s latest update aims to address.
The Screenshot Warning System
To further strengthen privacy, Meta has now implemented a screenshot detection system for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats. If a user takes a screenshot of a disappearing message, an automatic notification will appear in the chat, alerting both parties.
Zuckerberg personally demonstrated this new feature in a Facebook post, where he shared a screenshot of a conversation with his wife, Priscilla Chan. In the chat, he made a lighthearted joke about a supercomputer, and when Priscilla took a screenshot, the Messenger app instantly displayed a warning notification confirming that the action had been recorded.
Alongside the demonstration, Zuckerberg wrote, “New update for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats—now you get a notification if someone screenshots a disappearing message. We’re also adding GIFs, stickers, and reactions to encrypted chats too.”