Instagram will stop encrypting private messages
The measure, applauded by child protection groups, worries entities that advocate for internet privacy
BarcelonaOrganizations advocating for child safety online are celebrating a significant victory. After years of controversy, Meta has agreed to prevent communications between Instagram users from being encrypted. The change was introduced discreetly, with an unpublicized update, and will begin to be implemented in May. The modification of this clause will allow the company that manages one of the most followed social networks by young people to view the content of messages sent by users if required by judicial authorities.
This was one of the requests that, for years, organizations working for the digital safety of young people had been making. On the other hand, privacy advocacy groups have warned of the danger that making these communications more transparent to governments through their judicial levers could pose, seeing it as an open door to espionage.
Encryption was now a voluntary option and, as the company explained, it was not the most widespread option among those with an Instagram account. “Very few people are opting for end-to-end encryption on direct messages, so we will be removing this option in the coming months,” a Meta spokesperson told the Guardian. “Those who want to maintain a two-way encryption messaging system can easily do so on WhatsApp”.
The decision-making process has been slow and deliberate. The first statements from Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, in this regard date back to 2019, and it was not until 2023 that effective steps began to be taken. Among the organizations and institutions that had requested the measure were the FBI, Interpol, and various police agencies from the United Kingdom.
In any case, the fact that Meta is maintaining WhatsApp's encryption with this move suggests a willingness to sacrifice the measure on Instagram as a lesser evil, with the aim of keeping the instant messaging system competitive against other competing systems that make privacy one of their selling points. Other experts believe that this will allow Meta to better monetize private communications between users, as it will be able to further refine the advertising served to them if it can apply AI training not only to browsing history within the network but also to personal communications.