Instagram users should think twice before DMing today, as end–to–end encryption has been pulled from the platform.
End–to–end encryption (E2EE) is a type of digital privacy protection that ensures only the sender and the recipient can read what’s being sent.
But in a major U–turn for the company – which previously claimed that private messages ‘should be secure’ – this protection will no longer be available.
As the plug gets pulled on E2EE, Meta will now be able to read your messages, see your pictures, watch your videos, and listen to your voice notes.
The change has been met with hostility from privacy campaigners who say the move is a step backwards for digital rights.
However, E2EE has long been accused of making it easier to spread harmful material online, including terrorist materials, hate speech, and child sexual abuse material.
This means Meta’s move away from encryption has been welcomed by child protection groups, which has argued that digital encryption risks harming children.
Rani Govender, associate head of policy at the NSPCC, told the Daily Mail: ‘This feature creates blind spots where child abuse can flourish, cutting off vital routes for platforms to detect and stop harm.’
Instagram will stop providing end–to–end encryption from today, which means that the company will be able to access user messages
E2EE has been the standard on Meta–owned messaging service WhatsApp for years, but in 2019, the company pledged to expand this protection to its other services.
Speaking at an event that year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: ‘Your private communications should be secure.’
However, the feature didn’t arrive on Facebook Messenger until 2023, after which it became an optional feature on Instagram.
At the time, Meta said it planned to eventually make E2EE the default for all Instagram messages.
But now, seven years on from the company’s initial announcement, Meta has decided to pull back the deployment on Instagram.
Starting from today, Instagram users will only be offered standard encryption, which does not prevent Meta from accessing users’ private messages.
This does not follow a major announcement, but rather a quiet change in the app’s terms and conditions, which appeared in March.
The update said: ‘End‑to‑end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after 8 May 2026.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised end–to–end encryption across Instagram and Facebook, saying ‘your private communications should be secure’ (pictured)
Instagram users on social media have questioned whether they can still trust Instagram as a way of having private conversations
‘If you have chats affected by this change, you will see instructions on how to download any media or messages you may wish to keep.’
While the debate rages over privacy and safety concerns, Meta simply claims this decision was because people weren’t actually using E2EE in the first place.
A Meta spokesperson declined to provide a new comment and instead shared the company’s statement from March.
They said: ‘Very few people were opting in to end–to–end encrypted messaging in DMs, so we’re removing this option from Instagram in the coming months.
‘Anyone who wants to keep messaging with end–to–end encryption can easily do that on WhatsApp.’
Despite the company’s apparent ambivalence, the news has been met with both celebration and commiseration from various campaign groups.
Since end–to–end encrypted messages can only be read by either sender or recipient, online service providers cannot police what kinds of content are being sent over their platform.
Ms Govender, of the NSPCC, says: ‘We welcome the news that Instagram will be removing end–to–end encryption.
Without end-to-end encryption Meta will now be able to read your messages, see your pictures, watch your videos, and listen to your voice notes
‘Children should never be left to shoulder the responsibility of staying safe online alone. That duty sits squarely with platforms, and they must build in strong, proactive protections that keep private messaging safe.’
However, privacy groups are concerned that this erodes significant steps forward that have been made in recent years.
Jack Coulson, head of advocacy at Big Brother Watch, told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a threat to everyone’s privacy and shows a worrying direction of travel in the sector.’
Mr Coulson adds: ‘Meta has used access to children’s data to make money before, including allegedly targeting beauty products to teenage girls singled out because they were deleting selfies. Now they have even more invasive access.’
A recent study found that the US government alone requested data on 160,000 users in the last six months of 2023 and complies with over three–quarters of requests.
The news has also sparked concerns that Meta could begin using user data for targeting adverts or training its AI systems –which Meta says it currently does not do.
Matthew Hodgson, Co–Founder and CEO at Element, told the Daily Mail: ‘Pulling the plug on Instagram encryption is a white flag to surveillance, and a gift to their own AI training sets.
‘It has decided that the data harvested from your voice notes and DMs is more valuable than your fundamental right to a private conversation.’
