Goodbye end-to-end encryption on Instagram. Starting today, Friday 8 May, the feature has been disabled globally, with users no longer able to send “super private” messages. An unexpected turnaround for Meta, which in the past had promoted this technology as the reference standard for privacy on social media.
What changes for private messages
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is the most secure form of online messaging, as it allows only the sender and recipient to view messages. A protection opposed by some activists, because it would allow extremists and criminal groups to spread content without the authorities being able to intervene. Meta has decided to satisfy this faction, which also includes several children’s charities, but going against the defenders of privacy. What changes for users? Not a little. By turning off end-to-end encryption, Instagram will now be able to access all content in your direct messages, including photos, videos, and voice notes.
Meta’s step back
As mentioned, this is a turnaround for Meta, which in 2019 committed to introducing the technology into Facebook and Instagram messaging with the cry of “the future is private”. The company completed the rollout on Facebook Messenger in 2023 and later made the feature optional on Instagram, with plans to make it the default. Instead, seven years later, the company decided not to proceed with the large-scale implementation on Instagram, which will now offer users standard encryption, which allows the internet service provider to access private data if necessary.
Last month, Meta began updating its terms, warning users with a message: “End-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after May 8, 2026. If your chats are affected by this change, you’ll see instructions on how to download media or messages you want to keep.”
Encryption on other apps
Meta justified this decision by saying that few users had chosen to use the functionality which, at least until recently, represented the right direction to follow. End-to-end encryption is in fact a default setting in many messaging services, such as Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple’s iMessage, and Google’s app. On Telegram it is possible to select the option, but it is not active by default. X (formerly Twitter) offers a similar system for direct messages, criticized by some experts as not meeting industry standards, while Snapchat only uses encryption on photos and videos, but not on text messages. This function is not present on TikTok and the company has no intention of introducing it, as should happen in the coming months for voice calls and videos on Discord.