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Meta has confirmed it will stop supporting end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for Instagram messages once May 8, 2026 has passed. According to the company’s help documentation, users whose conversations are affected will be shown steps to retrieve any photos, videos or texts they wish to keep. The guidance also warns that those running an outdated version of the Instagram app may first need to update before they can download these conversations.

The social network first rolled out trials of E2EE for Instagram Direct in 2021 as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s stated push toward a more privacy-centered approach to social platforms. The capability remains limited to certain regions and is not switched on by default for all accounts.

In a notable expansion early in the Russo-Ukrainian war, Meta enabled encrypted direct messages for all adult users in both Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. That decision came amid heightened concerns about user safety and information flows in the conflict zones.

At roughly the same time, rival TikTok told BBC News it does not intend to add end-to-end encryption for private messages, arguing the technology can reduce safety and hinder efforts to protect especially young users from harm.

Reporting by Reuters late last month noted that Meta advanced plans to add encrypted messaging to Facebook and Instagram despite internal alerts raised in 2019 that broad encryption could limit the company’s capacity to spot illegal material-such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or extremist propaganda-and pass relevant information to authorities.

Proponents of E2EE say it significantly strengthens user privacy because only the participants in a conversation hold the keys needed to decrypt messages, effectively preventing service operators, attackers and other intermediaries from reading the content.

Opponents, including law enforcement and child protection groups, counter that widespread encryption creates a safe haven for criminals by blocking platforms from complying with lawful orders to produce message content-a dilemma commonly referred to as the “Going Dark” problem.

Meanwhile, regulators in Europe are preparing to tackle the tension between privacy and public safety. The European Commission is expected to publish a Technology Roadmap on encryption later this year to identify and assess potential technical approaches that could allow lawful access to encrypted data while upholding cybersecurity and fundamental rights.