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Instagram users will no longer be able to send secure private messages because the end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature has been disabled globally.
Main theses:
- Instagram has disabled secure end-to-end encryption, removing the ability to send private messages without others being able to access them.
- Meta's decision to disable E2EE on Instagram was due to the low popularity of this feature among users.
Meta has disabled end-to-end encryption for private messages on Instagram
E2EE is the most secure form of messaging on the internet — it allows only the sender and recipient to view messages — but has long been criticized by activists who claim that it allows extremist content to be spread online without the possibility of government interference.
By disabling E2EE, Instagram will have access to all direct message content, including images, videos, and voice messages.
Since 2019, Meta has defended its plans to introduce the technology to Facebook and Instagram messaging, despite criticism, saying that “the future is privacy.” The company completed the feature on Facebook Messenger in 2023, and later made it optional on Instagram, with plans to make it standard later.
However, seven years later, Meta has dropped the feature on Instagram, which will now only offer standard encryption, which means your ISP can access your private data if needed. It's a standard system used by most major online services like Gmail.
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Meta has not publicly announced its decision to abandon its plans to implement E2EE, but instead quietly updated the app's terms of service in March.
End-to-end encrypted messages on Instagram will no longer be supported after May 8, 2026. If you have chats affected by this change, you'll see instructions for downloading any media or messages you may want to keep.
Meta said in its comment that the decision was made because too few users were opting for this feature.
E2EE is a standard feature in Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple’s iMessage, and Google Messages. Telegram offers it as an option, but not by default. X, formerly Twitter, offers a similar system for direct messages, although critics say it falls short of industry standards.
Snapchat uses it for photos and videos in messages and has previously said it plans to expand it to text. TikTok said in March that it has no plans to implement the technology for direct messages.