Major change to Instagram DMs as Meta moves on security and switches off end-to-end encryption

Your Instagram DMs just got a lot less secure.

Over the weekend, Meta pushed through a major change which will allow Instagram to access all the content of direct messages, including images, videos and voice notes.

In a huge backflip, it switched off the option for end-to-end encryption (ETEE) which had allowed only the sender and the recipient to view messages.

Meta had been rolling out ETEE on its platforms since 2019. This was completed for Facebook Messenger in 2023 and it was made an optional feature for Instagram.

But now the tech giant has u-turned and decided not to proceed with a wider deployment to Instagram and will now only offer standard encryption, BBC reports.

Standard encryption allows internet service or network providers to access private messages if required.

Meta did not announce the changes, instead it was included in an update to the app’s terms and conditions.

“End‑to‑end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after 8 May 2026.

“If you have chats affected by this change, you will see instructions on how to download any media or messages you may wish to keep,” it said.

The move has attracted a mixed response, with National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children welcoming it because EETE had allowed “perpetrators to evade detection, enabling the grooming and abuse of children to go unseen.”

Others, however, including privacy campaigners, are disappointed.

Maya Thomas from Big Brother Watch told BBC she was “disappointed” by the decision because E2EE was “one of the key ways children can keep their data safe online, so we’re concerned that Meta may be caving to government pressure.”

There are also concerns private messages could now be open to use for AI training.

Instagram users who had opted into ETEE have been advised to use Meta’s WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger which still offer the feature.