It's not on by default, so you'll have to switch it on for every chat, but it's very easy to turn on. The good news is that you can turn on encryption in Facebook Messenger chats.

Most of us aren't about to attract the attention of law enforcement, but nonetheless it's a good idea to use encryption where it's available: for example, you might prefer that advertisers can't see the contents of your messages to use for targeting. That means the provider of the service (or someone breaking into your account) can read them and could if required hand them over to law enforcement. Most communications - email, Facebook Messenger, Twitter direct messages, private messages on forums etc - are not encrypted by default.

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There is no way for the company providing the messaging service to read them. Communications on platforms such as WhatsApp (which is owned by Facebook), Signal and Telegram are 'end-to-end' encrypted, which means that only the sender and the recipient can read them. What does that mean for ordinary users? First, a reassurance: tech companies have been clear that they neither can nor will read and hand over encrypted content.

There's been a lot of chatter about privacy on Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal alongside fears that tech companies could be required to break into the encrypted content their users create on their platforms if law enforcement officials demand it. Facebook Messenger chats aren't encrypted - but what does that mean? We explain how encryption protects your privacy and how to turn it on in Messenger

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