Starting today, end-to-end encryption for Instagram direct messages is no longer available. DMs you send to people on Instagram will no longer have full encryption and your conversations are not protected against Meta.
Meta can potentially see the content of posts shared between users on Instagram, and this information can be shared with law enforcement around the world.
End-to-end encryption has been an optional messaging feature on Instagram since 2023, but Meta has quietly removed it. Meta said The guardian Earlier this year, it removed the encryption feature because few people had adopted it. At the same time, Meta did not enable it by default nor did the company notify users that it was an option. Sending an encrypted message required enabling it for each individual conversation by accessing a buried setting per conversation. Meta also never rolled out the feature to all Instagram users.
“Very few people were opting for end-to-end encrypted messaging in DMs, so we’re removing that option from Instagram in the coming months,” Meta said. Meta suggests people who want end-to-end encryption use WhatsApp, another messaging app it owns. iMessage and other apps like Signal that aren’t owned by Meta also offer end-to-end encryption.
Law enforcement and child safety advocates have long pushed for Meta to remove encryption, but Meta could also benefit from removing this feature. It’s possible the company could use direct messaging content for advertising algorithms or to train chatbots. Meta says DM content is not currently used for targeted advertising, but there is wording that helps improve the product.
Meta’s decision to remove end-to-end encryption from Instagram comes 11 days before the Take It Down Act took effect. The ACTF will require platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images such as deepfakes within 48 hours of a takedown notice, but with E2EE in place, Meta cannot access the content necessary to comply.
Instagram users who have end-to-end encrypted chats have been given instructions on how to download media or messages they want to keep.
Last year, Meta began using generative AI private conversations to personalize content and personalize ad recommendations for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger users. So there appear to be few limits to the data it will use to generate revenue. WhatsApp and Messenger continue to have end-to-end encryption for now.