Facebook Messenger will soon automatically suggest translations between Spanish and English, though the feature will initially be limited to Marketplace, the company has announced. The feature is a convenient and rapid way to translate between the two popular languages, enabling users who would otherwise face a language barrier to engage on Facebook's platform.
As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to kick off 2018's F8 conference today, we knew that augmented reality and virtual reality were going to be big topics. After all, we started the day with the news that the new Oculus Go headset had gone up for pre-order, and the Facebook platform in general has been branching out into VR in recent months. Today we learned about the next step in that process: AR for Messenger and Instagram.
Facebook is adding a sleep mode for Facebook Messenger Kids, allowing parents to control when young users get access to the app. The new feature follows the launch of the child-friendly version of the instant messaging app last December, intended to quiet concerns that younger users of the social network could be talking with predators.
![Facebook Messenger is scanning all the links and photos you share [Updated]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/facebook-messenger-980x420.jpg)
Facebook is automatically scanning Facebook Messenger conversations for unacceptable content, the company has confirmed, monitoring both links and images shared. The revelation stemmed from an unexpected side detail from an interview with CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Recent Facebook controversy prompted many users to download their data from the social network, and some of them discovered an unexpected surprise: the data contains videos the users created but never saved. It seems the videos were recorded using Facebook's older tools, but then discarded rather than published. The users had believed the videos were gone for good, making their presence within the data download file an uncomfortable discovery.
Facebook's call records, SMS, and contacts collecting are the headline of the day - but that's old news to you. You knew a long time ago that Facebook was harvesting your data, and you don't care. What would anyone want with your info anyway? You're just an everyday average person, after all, surely there's no reason to worry that Facebook workers would take the time to read your boring old communications and contact list, right?
Facebook Messenger, the company's messaging app, supports group chats, which are convenient for arranging events or keeping up-to-date with multiple friends outside of the primary Facebook product. The company has announced a new feature for Messenger group chats: admin privileges. With this, group admins can control which users are given access to the group chat and more.
Compared to other Facebook apps, Messenger Lite is still relatively new. Aimed at users who have older Android devices or slower internet connections, Messenger Lite first launched in emerging markets at the end of 2016. Fast forward about a year and a half later and Messenger Lite has launched in many places around the world as a no-frills version of Messenger proper, dropping many of the extra features that have made their way into the main app over the years.
Facebook has spent the last few years trying to turn Messenger into the communication platform. Many different features have been added to Messenger over the years, but one that seems crucial - the ability to add people to your in-progress video calls - has been missing since video calling launched back in 2015. That all changes today.
Facebook's latest controversy, Messenger Kids, has just launched on Android after first arriving on iOS several weeks ago. The app was the recent subject of a letter sent to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg from advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. In the letter, the group asked Zuckerberg to discontinue the app, saying the new Messenger product may "undermine children's healthy development."
Facebook introduced a kid-friendly version of its chat app called Messenger Kids last month, offering young children access to all of its best features without the potential safety issues. The app aims to protect kids by tethering the app to a parent's account, requiring parental authorization to chat with new people, and more. However, an advocacy group is arguing that none of those features matter because, they say, Messenger Kids is inherently dangerous to kids.
These days, Facebook Messenger is a service attempting to wear many hats. Over the past couple of years, we've seen Facebook pack Messenger with a bunch of different features, whether that's processing payments or playing games with friends. While some of those services are good, feature creep has caused the Messenger we use today to feel a little bloated.