Meta has been winding down end-to-end encryption on Instagram without significant publicity. The official removal is scheduled for May 8, 2026, but reports suggest the feature was already deactivated for users in some countries like Australia before the deadline. Meta disclosed the change through its help page and a revised 2022 news update.
The feature’s short life on Instagram reflects the difficulty of rolling out privacy changes at scale. Introduced in 2023 after Zuckerberg’s 2019 promise, it never moved beyond an opt-in model. Without meaningful user adoption, Meta has concluded the feature is not worth sustaining.
After the May cutoff, there will be no version of Instagram that offers private message encryption. Meta will have access to all DM content. Users who want encryption will need to use WhatsApp, which continues to offer the feature as a default.
Law enforcement had called for exactly this outcome. The FBI, Interpol, and national crime agencies across multiple countries argued that encryption on Instagram was shielding criminals. The eSafety commissioner’s office in Australia cautioned that encryption without safety tools in place can create serious risks.
Privacy advocates see the move as a retreat from progress. Tom Sulston of Digital Rights Watch described it as a deterioration of the platform rather than an improvement. He and others are concerned about the commercial incentives that may lead Meta to use DM content in ways that weren’t possible when messages were encrypted.