Instagram appears to be stepping back from end-to-end encrypted messaging — a surprising move after years of Meta, its parent company, promoting strong encryption as the future of private communication.
A notice on Instagram’s help pages now says end-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after May 8, 2026. The page instructs affected users to download any chat messages or shared media they want to keep before that date.
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Of course. Can’t train the LLM if they can’t read them.
Worse, advertiser’s can’t read them!
And then they will be able to finally replicate that black mirror episode where someone is paying a subscription to chat with a LLM trained on the chats of the deceased partner
Literally owning someone’s soul.
shocking
How is it surprising that one of the companies that is pushing to force Internet ID laws through state legislatures is removing encryption from their chats?
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Gee why
Does anyone know if they’re unencrypting chats that already happened? Like my chat history? If so that’s fucked up
If they can, then it was never e2e encrypted.
Yeah cause of this trial thats been going on https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/24/tech/meta-new-mexico-trial-jury-deliberation
And because of this trial, instagram will remove end-to-end encryption and add age-verification
The New Mexico case also raised concerns that allowing teens to use end-to-end encryption on Instagram chats — a privacy measure that blocks anyone other than sender and receiver from viewing a conversation — could make it harder for law enforcement to catch predators. Midway through trial, Meta said it would stop supporting end-to-end-encrypted messaging on Instagram later this year.
Regarding the encryption decision, a Meta spokesperson told CNN that, “very few people were opting in to end-to-end encrypted messaging in DMs, so we’re removing this option from Instagram in the coming months. Anyone who wants to keep messaging with end-to-end encryption can easily do that on WhatsApp.”
– https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/24/tech/meta-new-mexico-trial-jury-deliberation
In May, Judge Bryan Biedscheid is slated to hold a trial without a jury on the state’s claims that Meta created a public nuisance that harmed state residents’ health and safety. The state will ask Biedscheid to direct Meta to make changes to its platforms, including adding effective age verification and removing predators, it said Tuesday.
