WhatsApp is the most used messenger worldwide. If you want to change, you often face problems. Because if all friends and acquaintances are on WhatsApp, you have to be there to be able to send messages. But this is exactly where a new EU law comes in.
The EU Parliament passed the so-called “Digital Markets Act” this week. ZDF also calls the new regulation the “WhatsApp law”. With good reason, because it forces Messenger to open itself to other programs. In short, WhatsApp messages should also be able to be sent with other messengers such as Telegram, Signal or Facebook Messenger in the future. If you want to exchange information with other WhatsApp users, you no longer have to have an account with the service. The principle is called “interoperability”.
What does the opening of WhatsApp and other messengers mean for security?
As early as 2021, the Federal Network Agency was considering using Messenger across provider boundaries. For a long time, however, it was not clear how the whole thing should be implemented. One problem, for example, is the end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp and other messengers use to secure their chats. Experts warn of security problems caused by the interoperability enforced by the EU. Some even see it as impossible to open the messenger while maintaining encryption. How exactly the new EU regulation is to be implemented in detail has yet to be clarified. However, the EU emphasizes that all previously applicable privacy standards and encryption must be retained.
Also read: All the latest news about Messenger WhatsApp
What is certain is that such a major adjustment will take time. WhatsApp will probably only be able to open up gradually to other messengers. Of course, the same applies vice versa. Presumably, according to the Netzpolitik portal, chatting between two users across the messenger boundaries will initially be possible. The changeover for group chats or even voice messages and video calls will take place much later. According to ZDF, there is a transitional period of two years for WhatsApp and Facebook, and even four years for WhatsApp group chats.
Small providers excluded
Even if WhatsApp is often mentioned in connection with the interoperability required by the EU, the changeover applies to all major messengers. The new party leader of the left, Martin Schirdewan, calls the new EU regulation an opportunity to “clean up the internet and fight digital monopolies”. MEP Patrick Breyer also describes the project in a similar way. For the first time, users would have a real choice of which messenger to use. Other messengers would get the chance to compete with top dog WhatsApp.
Also read: Signal, Threema, Telegram and Co – the best alternatives to WhatsApp
But not all messengers are obliged to open up to WhatsApp or other providers. Smaller services such as the Swiss company Threema have already stated that the exchange of messages is “not interesting for them for various reasons”. Threema boss Martin Blatter has the anonymity and security of his users in mind. He does not want to see the data in the meta group, which also includes WhatsApp and Facebook. At the same time, he sees the Threema concept as endangered by the required interoperability. The service is chargeable, but is strongly positioned in many social groups. But if users can also be active in these groups via WhatsApp without having to pay for Threema, then “people will stay with WhatsApp,” Blatter told Netzpolitik.