Think twice before sliding into someone’s Instagram DMs, because Meta is officially pulling the plug on end-to-end encryption for Instagram messages starting May 8. So yes, that “disappearing mode” confidence? Maybe not so confident anymore.
© GettyThe company quietly confirmed the change through updated help pages and previous announcements, first reported by The Guardian in March. The feature, which launched as optional in 2023, allowed users to send messages that even Meta couldn’t access. Now, the platform is reversing course.
Meta claims the decision came down to low usage. “Very few people were opting in to end-to-end encrypted messaging in DMs,” a spokesperson said, before adding, “Anyone who wants to keep messaging with end-to-end encryption can easily do that on WhatsApp.” WhatsApp is Meta-owned, but automatically protects your messages and calls with end-to-end encryption without you needing to turn anything on.
Once encryption disappears, Meta will once again have the technical ability to read message contents. According to Notebookcheck, that means the platform could potentially use conversations for things like advertising systems, AI training, or responding to subpoenas from law enforcement.
In practical terms, that also means law enforcement could potentially gain access to message contents through valid legal requests, something that’s much harder to do with fully encrypted chats.
© GettyThe change arrives just before a new U.S. law, the Take It Down Act, takes effect, requiring platforms to quickly remove explicit deepfakes and non-consensual intimate imagery. It’s much harder for apps to monitor or flag harmful content inside chats they technically can’t read. Critics believe that may be part of why Meta is backing away from encrypted DMs now, even though the company says the feature simply wasn’t widely used.
Meanwhile, child safety groups and law enforcement agencies have spent years pushing back against encrypted messaging, arguing it makes harmful behavior harder to investigate. A spokesperson for Australia’s eSafety commissioner told The Guardian that platforms still have a responsibility to “prevent, detect and respond to harm” even when encryption exists.
Others think there’s a bigger business reason behind the move. Tom Sulston of Digital Rights Watch told The Guardian in March, “The fact that WhatsApp is staying encrypted suggests that Meta might be pivoting to segregating social media from chat a bit more – the main distinction being that social media users can discover each other, whereas chat users need to know each other first,” he said.
He went on to note the real value may be in the data itself, saying, “The commercial pressure to do it is huge, so it feels inevitable that they will if they’re not already.”
So if you’ve got old encrypted chats, now might be the time to save them or delete them. Because after May 8, your Instagram DMs are basically losing their “for your eyes only” status.
