On Friday, Meta published an update on how it plans to comply with the Digital Markets Act, the European law which seeks to promote competition in digital marketplaces, where the law concerns the company's messaging apps, Messenger and WhatsApp.

Meta comments on the DMA requiring it to provide people with a choice in WhatsApp and Messenger to link to interoperable third-party messaging services and applications. Meta argues that it is developing notifications for WhatsApp and Messenger in order to keep users abreast of these integrations of third parties and to warn them about launching a new compatible third-party messaging app.

The company is introducing an onboarding flow in WhatsApp and Messenger where users will be able to learn more about third-party chats and turn them on. Users will be able to set up a designated folder for third-party messages or opt for a combined inbox from the flow.

Meta will enable group functionality for third-party chats in 2025, and, come 2027, will introduce voice and video calling according to the DMA.
Meta claims that at some yet to be determined date in the future it will introduce "rich messaging" features for third-party chats to WhatsApp and Messenger, including reactions, direct replies, typing indicators, and read receipts.

We will continue working with third-party messaging services to create the safest and best experience," Meta said in a post. "Users will start to see the third-party chat option once a third-party messaging service has developed, tested and launched the necessary technology in order for the feature to be a positive and secure user experience.".

Far from a sure thing, these interoperability features on WhatsApp and Messenger. It is unclear whether the other major messaging operators, such as Viber and Telegram, will take part. To achieve interoperability, WhatsApp, for instance, will have to rely on end-to-end encryption, raising new technical challenges in addition to the existing ones. Companies also have to enter into an agreement with Meta to connect their systems to any of its systems, and only recently did Meta publish the terms of that agreement.

"We will work with WhatsApp, fully end-to-end encrypted, on an experimental basis," noted the founder of Matrix, one such open-source messaging protocol, in a talk this year.

Meta is trying to meet its obligations under messaging-related clauses in the DMA, but the company has been criticized for allegedly violating other components of the legislation.

This summer, the European Commission said Meta's "pay or consent" ad model, where the company provides users in the EU with a choice between either a paid, ad-free experience on Facebook and Instagram and a free, ad-supported version, failed to comply with the DMA.