Mark Zuckerberg has issued a warning to Facebook Messenger users: don’t screenshot your chats.
Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook with his college roommates back in the early 2000s.
He’s now the chairman, CEO, and controlling shareholder of parent company Meta Platforms.
His career, early lawsuits, and rise to fame were even turned into the hit movie The Social Network.
But the tech billionaire is now reminding users about one specific Messenger feature.
And it comes with a warning — screenshots aren’t as private as you think.
How Vanish Mode Works
In 2020, Facebook launched Vanish Mode across Messenger and Instagram.
It let messages disappear once the recipient had seen them and left the chat.
At the time, Facebook explained the feature was for spontaneous conversations.
They said: “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 activate it by swiping up in an existing chat thread.
Another swipe turned the conversation back to normal.
Bridget Pujals, Messenger Product Manager, and Manik Singh, Instagram Product Manager, added: “We designed Vanish Mode with safety and choice in mind, so you control your experience.”
Disappearing Messages And New Warnings
Vanish Mode first appeared in the US and later expanded to Europe.
It’s now listed on Facebook’s Help Center as “no longer supported.”
Instead, Messenger is introducing disappearing messages, though they aren’t available to all users yet.
The feature is hidden under “Privacy and Support” when clicking on a person’s name.
The description warns: “If someone takes a screenshot or screen recording, a notification will appear in the chat.”
So if you think your sneaky screenshots will stay private, think again.
Zuckerberg’s Own Demonstration
Zuckerberg announced the update directly on Facebook.
He wrote: “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.”
To show how it works, he posted an example conversation with his wife, Priscilla Chan.
In the chat, Zuckerberg made a cheesy supercomputer joke.
Priscilla screenshotted it, triggering the notification inside the conversation.
It’s Meta’s way of proving the tool works — and warning users that privacy has its limits.
Featured image credit: Anthony Quintano
