WhatsApp will introduce support for cross platform messaging to comply with EU rules

Initially, users will be restricted to text messages, images, voice messages, videos and files between users. This will gradually expand to include calls and group chats

Meta-owned WhatsApp will add support for cross-platform messaging, allowing users on different messaging platforms to interact with users on WhatsApp.

Meta made it clear that the feature will be opt-in. According to a report from Wired, WhatsApp has been building the technology for the last two years, allowing users to chat between various platforms without losing out on end-to-end encryption.

It will be the first time that a messaging platform has allowed this kind of interoperability in a bid to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act. In September last year, the European Commission designated Meta and five other companies as 'gatekeepers', since, "they provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers about core platform services."

“There’s a real tension between offering an easy way to offer this interoperability to third parties whilst at the same time preserving the WhatsApp privacy, security, and integrity bar,” Meta's engineering director for WhatsApp, David Brouwer, told Wired.

Initially, users will be restricted to text messages, images, voice messages, videos and files between users. This will gradually expand to include calls and group chats.

Users who will opt-in to the service will see incoming messages from other platforms in a separate section in their inboxes, called "third-party chats".