Find out what the end of encryption means in Instagram chats

Instagram no longer offers end-to-end encryption in direct messages (DMs), which means that the content of chats can be read by third parties.

Meta has ended support for end-to-end encryption in Instagram DMs.

The company justified the change by saying that few people activated the feature, which was optional. A Meta spokesperson told British newspaper The Guardian: “Very few people turned on end-to-end encryption in DMs, so we’re taking that option away from Instagram.”

In practice, the change changes who can access the content of conversations. End-to-end encryption is a technique that scrambles the message so that only the sending and receiving devices can read it, without access by the platform that transports the text. Messages are protected, but Meta holds the access keys. Therefore, the company will be able to access them (read, process and store) to comply with court orders or for human moderation or analysis of automated systems.

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 suggests that anyone who wants to have protected conversations use WhatsApp.

In a statement, the company said that affected users will receive instructions for downloading media and messages.

PRIVACY, ADVERTISING AND CHILD SAFETY

Without encryption, messages fit more directly into the set of data that Meta admits to collecting. The company’s privacy policy lists 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 also comes amid pressure from authorities and child protection entities, who see encryption as an obstacle to detecting abuse. The debate gained momentum in cases such as the lawsuit by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who claimed that the company knew that encryption would make it difficult to detect and report child sexual exploitation; in March, a jury found Meta liable and awarded $375 million in civil penalties.

Other networks have also used the argument of balancing privacy and moderation when talking about private messages. In March, TikTok said it does not plan to adopt end-to-end encryption in DMs and said: “Our messaging system is designed to balance user privacy with the ability to respond to scams, harassment and other safety concerns when users report them or when required by law.”