Meta is rolling out a massive shift in messaging. WhatsApp users across Europe can now message people on other platforms directly - starting with BirdyChat and Haiket. After three years of regulatory pressure from the EU's Digital Markets Act, this marks the first real crack in the messaging app silos that have dominated our digital lives.
Meta just cracked open the messaging world's biggest walls. Starting this month, WhatsApp users across Europe can message people on other platforms directly - a seismic shift that breaks down the app silos tech giants have spent years building.
The rollout begins with two smaller players: BirdyChat and Haiket. But this is just the opening move in what could reshape how we think about messaging apps entirely. According to Meta's announcement, European users who opt into the feature can share messages, images, voice notes, videos and files across platforms while maintaining the same end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp promises.
This isn't Meta playing nice - it's regulatory compliance in action. The EU's Digital Markets Act has been breathing down tech giants' necks, demanding they open their walled gardens. "Meta's partnerships with BirdyChat and Haiket is a result of more than three years of work with European messaging services and the European Commission," the company revealed in today's blog post.
The technical achievement here shouldn't be understated. Getting different messaging systems to talk to each other while preserving privacy is like getting rival countries to share intelligence. Meta had to build what they call "third-party chats" from scratch, ensuring that messages between WhatsApp and other apps maintain the same security standards users expect.
But there's a catch - it's Europe only. The Digital Markets Act doesn't have teeth outside EU borders, so American users won't see these features anytime soon. Meta's being explicit about this geographical limitation, likely to avoid regulatory heat in other markets where they'd prefer to keep their ecosystem locked down.
The user experience is deliberately simple. Over the coming months, European WhatsApp users will see a notification in their Settings tab explaining how to opt into cross-platform messaging. It's entirely optional, and users can toggle it on or off whenever they want. Meta's clearly trying to avoid the backlash that hit Apple when iOS users complained about green bubbles disrupting their iMessage experience.
