Instagram will remove E2EE messages in May

Meta will end messages protected with end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on Instagram on May 8, which will result in the deletion of its content if users do not download it first.

End-to-end encryption is a technology present in services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal, X and Telegram, which protects the content of communications, so that only the sender and receiver can access it.

This technology also protects Instagram messages, but this will change from May 8, when messages encrypted with E2EE will no longer be available, as reported on its Support page.

This change means that the company will delete messages protected with end-to-end encryption, and therefore urges users to download the videos, images and messages they have exchanged in conversations to avoid losing them.

Meta has not shared the reasons for this decision, but has already started notifying users in the Instagram mobile application.

End-to-end encryption guarantees the privacy of conversations and calls that are protected with it, but it is a technology that has been questioned in recent years because it is considered to hinder police investigations by also protecting criminal exchanges, framed in organized crime or pedophilia.