On Air Now
The Capital Weekender with Meg McHugh 10pm - 1am
How to delete messages on Facebook Messenger
6 February 2019, 12:54
Hallelujah – no more message regret.
Facebook just announced a new feature which allows users to delete messages within a limited amount of time, after Whatsapp introduced this function back in 2017. Previously, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was the only person who could delete messages but now he's rolled it out to us to us mere mortals.
Facebook users will now be able to delete messages without a trace. So say goodbye to those embarrassing messages you send your ex at 4am, or those incriminating photos you accidental sent to the family group chat instead of to your friends – phew.
It's pretty simple to delete a message, just tap on the post you want to remove and select the "Remove for Everyone" option. But be warned, like WhatsApp, everyone in the chat will be alerted that the message was removed. You can also choose to click "Remove for You", which means only the message will be deleted for you. You only have a 10 minute window to complete both actions.
"Messenger's time limit to remove a message is designed to provide users with more control and flexibility over their messages while also ensuring we prevent abuse of the feature (such as sending and removing harmful messages)," Facebook revealed.
"Messenger users typically delete messages for themselves within a minute of sending it, so Messenger's time limit of ten minutes should give people ample time to remove their message.
"If a user does receive a harmful message and the sender removes that message, the recipient can, for a limited time, still report the conversation to Facebook for investigation the same way they would with any Messenger conversation."
