Instagram has disabled end‑to‑end encryption for users’ private messages.

Instagram has disabled end-to-end encryption for private messages

Since May 8, Instagram stopped supporting end‑to‑end encryption in personal chats. According to the administration, this feature was rarely used and opposed by both law enforcement agencies and child protection advocates.

What changed
* Access to conversations – without encryption, Instagram’s administrators can now read all user messages.
* Reason for disabling – the social network’s leadership states that “only a few users enabled end‑to‑end encryption, so we plan to remove this feature in the coming months.”
A Meta (Instagram owner) spokesperson told The Guardian in March that users could switch to WhatsApp for secure messaging.

Who was affected first
The first “lost” encrypted chats were from Australian users. The shutdown was met with criticism from law enforcement and child‑protection groups, who argued that end‑to‑end encryption hampers investigations of online crimes.

New security concerns
Although WhatsApp has become an “alternative” for those wanting privacy, the messenger itself is not free from criticism. Telegram founder Pavel Durov accuses WhatsApp of “massive user deception,” mainly pointing to unencrypted chat backups stored in the cloud.

Thus, Instagram abandoned end‑to‑end encryption due to low popularity and governmental pressure, but new platforms also face questions about real data protection for users.