The Morning After: Messenger is coming to Facebook

Over the past decade, Meta has done its best to establish every part of its business as a separate but equal player in the bottom line. After all, that’s why the little icons for Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus are part of Facebook’s brand identity. Plus, you know, it helps deflect any suggestion that he runs a sprawling digital monopoly that owns most of the internet.

But now, nine years after Facebook split its Messenger product into a separate mobile app, the pair are set to reunite. Facebook CEO Tom Alison said in a blog post that the company is testing the ability to access Messenger within the Facebook app. This, of course, is part of an attempt to regain TikTok’s relevance, and according to Alison, the big blue app will become a platform for entertainment and discovery.

—Dan Cooper

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