Sure, trust in Facebook may be at an all-time low. But that isn't stopping the company from trying to handle your digital payments.

On Tuesday, the social network introduced Facebook Pay so that you can eventually send money to friends across the company's platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp.

You can already send payments to friends on Messenger. But including the company's other platforms may make Facebook Pay a stronger rival to digital payments apps such as Venmo.

In the case of Facebook Pay, you can link it to a debit or credit card with Visa or Mastercard. Or you can connect it to your PayPal account. Along with sending money to friends, you can also make purchases over the company's various platforms, including Facebook Marketplace. However, the big challenge facing Facebook Pay is convincing users that the service is private and secure.

In response, the company published a separate blog post discussing the various protections Facebook baked into the service. As a safeguard, Facebook Pay will refrain from automatically activating over all your Facebook-related apps. On set up, you'll have to choose which services it can access. To prevent account hijacking, you can also add a PIN or the need for fingerprint scan on your phone before any transaction is made over Facebook Pay.

On the data collection front, the company says it will try to serve you relevant ads based on any items you buy with Facebook Pay. "For example, if you buy a baseball glove on Facebook Marketplace, you might see an ad for a baseball bat," Facebook's chief privacy officer Erin Egan wrote in the blog post.

However, your card information will never be used to personalize the ads or products over Facebook. The company is also promising to encrypt and securely store all your payment details, including bank account numbers.

"Only you can see your payment and transaction history within Facebook Pay," Egan added. "Your activity, such as payments or purchases, will not be shared with your friends or to your profile or feed, unless you choose to share it."

So how does this all relate to Libra, Facebook's cryptocurrency project? Well, Facebook Pay is actually separate. The reason why is because company CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been telling US lawmakers that the association behind Libra will operate as an independent entity, amid fears the cryptocurrency project will hand over too much power to Facebook. Thus, Libra won't have automatic access to your Facebook account. But don't be surprised if the option is added one day.

Facebook Pay is first rolling out in the US. It'll initially be available over Facebook and Facebook Messenger before it comes to WhatsApp and Instagram. To start using the feature, go to Settings > Facebook Pay > then add your payment method.