Instagram is discontinuing its end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature for direct messages starting May 8th, citing low usage. Meta suggests users who want encrypted messaging switch to WhatsApp, which will continue to support E2EE. The company is notifying affected users and advising them to download their encrypted chats before the feature is removed.
Background
End-to-end encryption ensures that only the sender and recipient can read messages, preventing even the platform provider from accessing content. Meta has been gradually rolling out E2EE across its messaging platforms with varying adoption rates.
- Source
- The Verge
- Published
- Mar 14, 2026 at 03:39 AM
- Score
- 5.0 / 10