You may have to stop using one of Instagram’s core features if you care about privacy

Among the few things most people agree that Meta is doing right with some of its most popular apps is that they have end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for private conversations enabled by default. That means nobody but the participants in a given chat can see the contents of the conversation, including Meta. Unfortunately, one of the company’s most popular apps will soon lose that feature.

Instagram DMs are losing end-to-end encryption in a couple of months

Instagram is putting an end to end-to-end encrypted direct messages on the platform. Meta hasn’t made an official announcement of the change and instead has updated a page on the Instagram Help Center, which was spotted by PiunikaWeb. The company hasn’t said why it’s making such a significant change to one of the most popular Instagram features.

On the help page, the company says that users will see instructions on how to download any media or messages they want to keep from their impacted chats. To download their chats, users with older versions of Instagram may need to update their app. 

A contentious topic

Having all private chats encrypted sounds like the best solution to protect users privacy, but there’s mounting opposition against E2EE. Most governments are fighting for access to private conversations online as a measure against sharing illegal materials, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). 

Without E2EE, Meta will be able to proactively scan Instagram messages for any illegal material and give legal authorities access to those messages when prompted. On a more positive note, it will be able for the company to take action on user reports.



While Instagram is losing E2EE, conversations on WhatsApp and Messenger are still encrypted by default. However, ever since they were launched, DMs on Threads have been unencrypted.

Time for a change

While my Instagram DMs mostly consist of shared comedy reels, I’d prefer for them to stay private. I’ll continue sending those jokes to my friends, but if I have anything important to say, I’d choose another platform.

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