Mark Zuckerberg is cautioning Facebook Messenger users to avoid taking screenshots of their conversations.
Zuckerberg, who co-founded Facebook with his college roommates, now serves as the chairman, CEO, and majority shareholder of its parent company, Meta Platforms. His rise to fame — including early accomplishments and legal battles — was even turned into the film The Social Network.
Now, Zuckerberg is issuing a reminder, and essentially a warning, to Facebook users: do not screenshot your chats.
This comes after Facebook introduced a feature in 2020 called Vanish Mode on both Facebook Messenger and Instagram. Vanish Mode allowed messages to disappear automatically after the recipient viewed them and left the chat.
At the time, 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.”
Users could enable the feature by swiping up within an existing chat thread on their mobile device, and disable it by swiping up again.
According to Bridget Pujals, Messenger Product Manager, and Manik Singh, Instagram Product Manager (via USA Today): “We designed Vanish Mode with safety and choice in mind, so you control your experience.”
The feature was first launched in the U.S. before being rolled out to EU countries. However, Facebook now states in its Help Center that Vanish Mode is “no longer supported,” though disappearing messages are still available.
The platform notes: “Disappearing messages are gradually being introduced and may not be available to you yet.”
Users can access this option by tapping on the person’s name in a Messenger chat, scrolling down to Privacy and Support, and selecting Disappearing Messages. The feature includes a warning that: “If someone takes a screenshot or screen recording, a notification will appear in the chat.”
Zuckerberg reiterated this warning in a recent post, stating:
“New update for end-to-end encrypted Messenger chats so you get a notification if someone screenshots a disappearing message. We’re also adding GIFs, stickers, and reactions to encrypted chats too.”
He even shared a personal exchange between himself and his wife, Priscilla Chan. After he made a cheesy joke about a supercomputer, she took a screenshot — showing exactly how the new screenshot alert will appear in chats.