META has announced plans to discontinue support for end-to-end encrypted chats on Instagram after 8 May 2026. If you have chats affected by this change, you will see instructions on how you can download any media or messages you may want to keep, and if you’re on an older version of Instagram you may need to update the app before you can download your chats, the company said.
The feature was first tested for Instagram direct messages in 2021 as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's privacy-focused vision for social networking; it is currently only available in some areas and is not enabled by default. Weeks into the Russo-Ukrainian war in February 2022, encrypted direct messaging was made available to all adult users in both Ukraine and Russia.
Late February 2026 Reuters reported that Meta proceeded with encryption messaging plans despite internal warnings in 2019 that doing so would hinder the company’s ability to detect illegal content, such as CSAM or terrorist propaganda.