Facebook has plans to merge its own Messenger with Instagram and WhatsApp to allow users to communicate across the different platforms.

The tech giant has announced that it plans to have a shared core for all of the messaging apps.

Facebook has said that it is at the start of a “long process”.

It is believed that these plans come from Mark Zuckerburg, Facebook’s CEO.

In a press release Facebook said it wanted to “build the best messaging experiences we can; and people want messaging to be fast, simple, reliable and private.”

Integrating the messaging parts might simplify Facebook’s work, allowing them to control all 3 apps in one place.

These plans come amidst Facebook’s privacy scandals to do with advertising and Russian interference, and more recently the apparent implication of self harm posts on Instagram that allegedly lead to the suicide of 14 year old Molly Russell in 2017.

Facebook is also looking at adding encryption to these platforms along with the merger. “We’re working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks,” said a spokesperson for Facebook.

Facebook is aiming to have implemented their cross-platform plan by the end of 2019.