Meta pulled encryption from Instagram DMs today. WhatsApp and Messenger keep theirs.

Meta stripped end-to-end encryption from Instagram’s direct messages today. As of May 8, the company can read, scan, and moderate every Instagram DM. The feature was never on by default. Meta’s stated reason is that barely anyone used it.

“Very few people were opting in to end-to-end encrypted messaging in DMs,” a Meta spokesperson told The Hacker News, “so we’re removing this option from Instagram. Anyone who wants to keep messaging with end-to-end encryption can easily do that on WhatsApp.”

That last sentence is doing a lot of work.

What we know

• Instagram has roughly 2.14 billion monthly active users. Meta quietly updated an Instagram help page on March 13 to announce the removal. No blog post, no press release. The Guardian first reported it on March 18.
• The feature launched as opt-in around 2023. It was buried four taps deep, never advertised, never made the default. Android Police documented the deliberate obscurity.
• WhatsApp has been encrypted by default since 2016. Facebook Messenger went default-encrypted in December 2023. Only Instagram, the platform with the youngest user base and the highest child-safety litigation exposure, lost the feature.
• Users with existing encrypted chats were told to download their messages before May 8. Security expert Harry Maugans told NewsBytes the old messages would either “become public and join the rest of your chat flow, or the messages might just be deleted.”

What we don’t know

• Whether the Take It Down Act drove the decision. The federal law, signed in 2025, requires platforms to detect and remove non-consensual intimate imagery within 48 hours. It takes effect May 19, eleven days after the encryption cutoff. A platform that can’t read message contents can’t scan for prohibited material. Meta hasn’t confirmed the connection. The timing is suggestive, not proven.
• Whether unencrypted DMs will feed advertising or AI training. With encryption off, Meta regains the technical ability to use message content for ad targeting or model training. The company hasn’t stated it will.
• What happens to old encrypted messages. Meta hasn’t clearly explained whether existing encrypted conversations are decrypted, deleted, or left in an inaccessible state.

The legal backdrop

A New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million on March 24 for failing to protect children from predators on Instagram and Facebook. A Los Angeles jury found Meta liable for engineering addiction in children the next day. Internal documents revealed in the trial showed Meta’s Head of Content Policy, Monika Bickert, called Instagram’s encryption efforts “irresponsible,” warning there was “no way to find the terror attack planning or child exploitation” with end-to-end encryption.

The second phase of the New Mexico trial started May 5, three days before the encryption cutoff. Potential remediation costs run into the billions.

Who’s pushing back

The Global Encryption Coalition, which includes Mozilla, the Internet Society, and the Center for Democracy & Technology, demanded Meta reverse the decision. Their statement: “Encryption is not just ‘a feature.’ It is fundamental to safety and human rights.” They specifically called out the adoption argument: “Low uptake of an opt-in feature…does not constitute grounds for eliminating it.”

Security researchers recommend users who want encrypted messaging move to Signal, the nonprofit alternative, rather than relying on any Meta platform. Even WhatsApp, while encrypted, still exposes metadata (who you talk to, when, and how often).

What this means for you

If you’ve been using Instagram encrypted chats, they’re gone. Download your messages now through Settings > Privacy and Security > Download your information, or accept that they may be deleted.

For everyday use, the practical impact is narrow. Most Instagram DMs were never encrypted. The people affected are the small number who found the buried toggle and turned it on.

The larger signal matters more than the immediate change. Mark Zuckerberg wrote in 2019 that “the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services.” Seven years later, his company removed encryption from the one platform where child safety lawsuits are piling up the fastest. The stated reason was low adoption. Whether that adoption was low because Meta chose not to promote it is the question the company doesn’t want to answer.