Meta's plan to end encryption

Meta is going to stop supporting end-to-end encryption on Instagram messages.

The Mozilla Foundation picked this up and shared the news with a video on Instagram to let people know what they can do to protect their privacy because of this plan.

More than 1 million people watched that video, 200,000 people shared it, and 22,244 people signed the petition asking Meta to reverse this decision.

Meta then agreed to meet with Mozilla to discuss the petition and get answers to people’s concerns.

Here are some key points.

Meta confirmed that end-to-end encryption will be removed from Instagram DMs, and that the decision is final. The last day for Instagram DM encryption will the the 8th May.

The reason for this change is that not enough people used encrypted Instagram DMs, and people who want encryption can go to WhatsApp instead.

Mozilla Foundation believes encryption should be the default.

Mozilla believes that Meta made it hard to find so not enough people used encryption on Instagram.

Previously encrypted chats will not be decrypted. However, after 8th May, 2026, those messages will disappear. You have until 8th May to save those messages for yourself by following Meta’s instructions.

Meta confirmed the Instagram decision has no impact on WhatsApp or Messenger encryption—those remain intact, and they encourage people who prioritize encryption to use WhatsApp. *An important note: Messenger is only encrypted for conversations between two individuals. Group chats are not encrypted, and neither are chats with business accounts. So even a group of you and two friends on Messenger is not actually encrypted. Our advice is to be mindful of this when you’re choosing messaging providers—we suggest you move family and group chats somewhere more secure. The company says they’re working on bringing encryption to more types of messages on Messenger, but did not offer specifics on timing.

People have expressed concerns that this move was about giving AI more data to train on (i.e., your Instagram DMs) or that Meta would use messages for monetization purposes. Meta gave two clear answers here:

• Ads: Meta says they do not not use the content of personal DMs (1:1 or group chats with personal accounts) for ad personalization.
• AI training: Meta also says they don’t use private message content to train AI—unless someone in the chat actively shares those messages with a Meta AI. This applies across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.

When it comes to AI training, the line isn’t necessarily private vs. public—it’s what you choose to share with AI features.

The moment you interact with Meta AI in a chat, that conversation becomes fodder.

WhatsApp remains more private than Instagram, but it’s still a Meta product—that means the same data infrastructure, the same AI tool integrations in chats, and the same corporate incentives.

Mozilla Foundation’s strong recommendation is that Signal is the best way to securely communicate with end-to-end encryption as the default. You could also use a service like Threema. (And after recent findings about notification storage, remember to actively turn off your message preview notifications for all your messaging services.)

People need to understand and keep control on their privacy and their data, especially now and into the future.

Facebook started as a platform for people to communicate with others freely, but Meta a profit making machine where profit over protection have grey boundaries. 

Meta will keep encryption for Whatsapp and Messenger for now, however, this is something to keep an eye on in the future. 

The Mozilla Foundation is building a better technology for the future.

They believe technology must serve people and its people that shape the design and values for the future.

I urge you to check out The Mozilla Foundation and sign up to receive their news and developments, they are an organisation that cares about people, not profit.