SAO PAULO, SP (UOL/FOLHAPRESS) – Instagram has stopped offering end-to-end encryption in direct messages (DMs), which makes it possible for third parties to read the contents of chats.
Meta has discontinued support for end-to-end encryption in Instagram DMs.
The company justified the change by saying that few people were enabling the feature, which was optional. A Meta spokesperson told the British newspaper The Guardian: “Very few people were enabling end-to-end encryption in DMs, so we’re removing this option from Instagram.”
In practice, the change alters who can access the content of conversations. End-to-end encryption is a technique that encodes messages so that only the sender’s and recipient’s devices can read them, without the platform carrying the text having access. Messages are protected, but Meta holds the access keys. Therefore, the company will be able to access them (read, process, and archive them) to comply with court orders or for human moderation or automated system analysis.
Meta already uses end-to-end encryption by default on WhatsApp and has also adopted the technology on Facebook Messenger for personal messages. A company spokesperson recommends using WhatsApp for those who want secure conversations.
In a statement, the company said that affected users will receive instructions for downloading media files and messages.
PRIVACY, ADVERTISING AND CHILD SAFETY
Without encryption, messages fall more directly into the data pool Meta claims to collect. The company’s privacy policy includes the content of messages sent and received among the data collected, which, in theory, can be used to personalize features, train artificial intelligence (AI) models, and target advertising.
The change is also coming under pressure from authorities and child protection organizations, who see encryption as a barrier to identifying abuse. The debate has escalated in cases such as the lawsuit filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who argued that the company knew encryption would make it more difficult to detect and report child sexual exploitation. In March, a jury found Meta liable and awarded $375 million in civil penalties.
Other social networks have also used the argument of balancing privacy and moderation when discussing private messages. In March, TikTok stated that it had no plans to adopt end-to-end encryption for direct messages, stating, “Our messaging system was designed to balance user privacy with the ability to respond to scams, harassment, and other security concerns when users report them or when required by law.”