FACEBOOK Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp chats are going to merge – with a deadline of early 2020.

The buddy-up involves "thousands of Facebook employees" re-designing all three apps "at their most basic levels".

3 Billionaire Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly "asserting his control over the company's sprawling divisions" Credit: Josh Edelson / AFP

Facebook Messenger, along with Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Instagram, will still exist as standalone apps.

But messaging functionality would be shared across them, so users on Instagram could text people on WhatsApp.

You could even message someone on Instagram without ever actually having an Instagram account.

The move was revealed in a New York Times exposé, and later confirmed by Facebook.

3 Facebook users will soon be able to directly message Instagram and WhatsApp users Credit: Getty - Contributor

WhatsApp – a quick history Here's what you need to know... WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum - former employees of Yahoo

It's one of the most popular messaging services in the world

Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like "what's up"

After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users

It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast

Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)

The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers

As of February 2017, WhatsApp has over 1.2 billion users globally

It's expected that the "integration" between the apps will be completed as soon as the end of 2019, or possibly early 2020.

Work on the project is already underway to unify the "messaging infrastructure" between the apps.

It means that all three apps will support end-to-end encryption, which Instagram currently lacks.

End-to-end encryption means your message is garbled into gibberish during transit, and can only be read in its true form by the sender and recipient.

It's an important privacy feature, and already one of the defining features of WhatsApp.

But it won't be easy.

"Given the spotty history Facebook have in managing user privacy settings, merging personal information and privacy configurations from three significant applications won’t be trivial," said Tim Mackey, technical evangelist at Synopsys, speaking to The Sun.

"Facebook development teams would do well to look at this precedent and prioritize user privacy.

"With the integration project currently expected to take a year to complete, and with end-to-end encryption as part of the plan, we should expect the Facebook engineering teams to focus attention on uniform data security both in their platform and in the apps themselves."

Worryingly, child safety campaigners have warned that this could make child-grooming even easier for online sickos.

"The decision to merge and incorporate end-to-end encryption in all three apps means child abusers could find it easier to access more young victims, and detecting grooming behaviour and sexual abuse on these apps will become far more difficult," said Andy Burrows, Associate Head of Child Online Safety at the NSPCC.

"Given that police have already told us that Facebook-owned apps are being used in more than half of grooming offences, Facebook must explain how it took children into account when it made this decision.

"This is precisely why the NSPCC’s Wild West Web campaign is calling on Government to introduce a tough independent regulator for social networks to force them to meet consistent child safety measures and hold them to account when they fail."

3 The move is reportedly the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg, who has been met with fierce internal opposition

According to the NYT, the idea is being masterminded by billionaire Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg.

It's a bid to keep users hooked into the Facebook ecosystem – and avoid turning to rival offerings "from Apple and Google".

Zuckerberg has reportedly been "floating" the idea for months, but has been met with heavy opposition.

Instagram's founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger abandoned the company late last year, reportedly due to Zuckerberg's increased grip on the app.

And WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton also left for similar reasons.

Zuck is said to have "clashed with dozens of WhatsApp employees" over the merger during a staff meeting in December.

Part of the problem is that Facebook requires you to provide your real identity, while WhatsApp is often favoured for its anonymity.

Merging the messaging services could create a privacy headache.

Users may also be put off by the prospect of messages from long-forgotten Facebook friends turning up on WhatsApp, for instance.

"As you would expect, there is a lot of discussion and debate as we begin the long process of figuring out all the details of how this will work," a Facebook spokesperson told The Sun.

Instagram – a quick history Here's what you need to know... Instagram is a social network for sharing photos and videos

It was created back in October 2010 as an iPhone-exclusive app

A separate version for Android devices was released 18 months later

The app rose to popularity thanks to its filters system, which lets you quickly edit your photos with cool effects

When it first launched, users could only post square 1:1 ratio images, but that rule was changed in 2015

In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1billion in cash and stock

In 2018, some analysts believe the app is worth closer to $100billion

In October 2015, Instagram confirmed that more than 40billion photos had been uploaded to the app

And in 2018, Instagram revealed that more than a billion people were using the app every month

According to the report, Zuckerberg still isn't sure how to make money from the merger.

Speaking to The Sun, industry expert Michael Pachter, of Wedbush Securities, said: "It’s an interesting issue, since users aren’t really asking for integration, but Facebook recognizes that by integrating the products, they facilitate greater communication/interaction among their user base.

"I personally think it’s a great idea, but am not sure there is any immediate impact on revenues or profits.

"The integration is likely going to roll out in a year or so, and we will have to see how smoothly it goes before understanding the potential for monetization."

In a statement given to The Sun, a Facebook spokesperson said the company hoped to "build the best messaging experiences we can – and people want messaging to be fast, simple, reliable and private".

"We're working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks."

We've asked Facebook for more details about the merger and will update this story with any response.

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Several Facebook privacy blunders in 2018 caused Zuckerberg's firm to lose about £180billion in value.

Furious Facebook employees even resorted to buying burner phones to badmouth Zuck's leadership.

And this week, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey revealed Mark Zuckerberg tried to feed him "some cold goat he knifed and killer with a laser gun".

Do you think this is a good idea? Let us know in the comments!

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