Meta is killing end-to-end encryption for Instagram DMs soon

Ben Schoon | Mar 13 2026 - 10:35 am PT

Meta has confirmed that, soon, it will remove support for end-to-end encryption for Instagram DMs.

Confirmed on a support page, Instagram will be removing end-to-end encryption support for direct messages (DMs) as of May 8, 2026. Meta alerted users to the change through an in-app pop-up.

Top comment by Morgrain

Liked by 30 people

"The exact reason for why end-to-end encryption for Instagram DMs will be going away is unclear, but it’s unfortunate from a privacy perspective."

The reason is obvious. Spy on your customers to gain even more data to make even more targeted ads, which equals more money.

Oh, and sell that data of course.

End-to-end encryption protects the user, obviously that's not what a data kraken wants.

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Meta explains:

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

If you have chats that are affected by this change, you will see instructions on how you can download any media or messages that you may want to keep.

If you’re on an older version of Instagram, you may also need to update the app before you can download your affected chats.

Following initial publication of this article, Instagram’s PR team reached out to issue this explanation:

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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.

Regardless of use cases, it’s unfortunate to see a company ditching end-to-end encryption. If you want to keep your chats as secure as possible, you’ll need to heed this company’s advice by swapping your conversations over to WhatsApp, or by ditching Meta’s services for another platform altogether.