Facebook has come out with a feature that lets you delete messages from a conversation after you’ve sent them, as previously spotted in leaks.
So in case you send the wrong message to the wrong person or make an
egregious typo, you’ll be able to remove it in Messenger now.
It works when you tap on the message you want to delete within 10 minutes
of sending it. Two options will appear: Remove for Everyone and Remove
for You. Selecting Remove for Everyone replaces your message with text
that the message has been removed by you.
It’s similar to the power that CEO Mark Zuckerberg infamously has
to delete messages he’s sent, as we first found out last April, after
multiple sources noted that messages they received from the CEO had
mysteriously disappeared. When questioned, Facebook confirmed Zuckerberg’s messages expired over time, citing increased security measures after the 2014 Sony Pictures email hacks.
After people found out that Zuckerberg (and, presumably,
other executives) could delete messages but the average user couldn’t,
they called out Facebook for providing preferential treatment to
higher-ups. On the same day, Facebook announced
that it would build an “unsend” feature for all users within the next
few months and limit Zuckerberg’s ability to use it until everyone got
the same power. (Those “few months” turned out to be nine.)
Facebook tells The Verge that the new feature
will be available today on the latest versions of Messenger for iOS and
Android. The company says the new ability is based on the Zuckerberg
power, but it underwent “some improvements to provide broader
functionality to people using Messenger.”