Overview
- Instagram, which ended support on Friday, removed end-to-end encryption from DMs and calls, a system that had limited access to the sender and recipient only.
- Users with affected chats will see in‑app prompts with steps to download messages and media they want to keep.
- Meta said very few people enabled encrypted chats on Instagram and directed users who want that protection to WhatsApp, where encryption remains on by default.
- The change gives Meta the technical ability to review messages for harassment and grooming of minors, responding to pressure to curb child sexual abuse material online.
- Technology journalist Casey Newton called it the first major rollback of encryption by a big platform, a reversal that follows Meta’s 2019 encryption pledge and years of internal resistance to making Instagram fully encrypted.