Instagram will stop encrypting private messages between users from May, after enduring years of criticism from law enforcement and child safety groups over the feature.
Meta quietly announced this month on its help page for Instagram and in an updated 2022 news post that end-to-end encryption would no longer be available on direct messages between users on Instagram from 8 May 2026.
It means Meta will be able to see the contents of messages between all users – which so far it only could for those who did not enable encryption.
The feature already appeared deactivated for Australian users, when Guardian Australia tested on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Meta said the decision to abandon encryption was due to low uptake.
“Very few people were opting in to end-to-end encrypted…