Meta has announced plans to stop the end-to-end Encryption feature for Instagram private messages between users from May, after enduring years of criticism from law enforcement and child safety groups over the feature.

Meta announced in a message posted via its help page for Instagram and in an updated 2022 news post that end-to-end encryption would no longer be available on direct messages between users on Instagram from 8 May 2026.

In a check by TVC News on Wednesday, Meta explained that the content of messages and calls in an end-to-end encrypted chat is protected from the moment it leaves the sender’s device to the moment it reaches the receiver’s device.

However, Meta clarified that the end-to-end encryption for messages and calls is subject to the preference of users who prefer to retain the feature or otherwise.

It means Meta will be able to see the contents of messages between all users, which so far it could only do for those who did not enable encryption.

The statement reads, “Every device in an end-to-end encrypted conversation has a special key that’s used to protect the conversation.

“When you send a message in an end-to-end encrypted chat, your device locks the message as it’s sending. This message can only be unlocked by a device that owns one of the special keys for that chat. The same is true for the content of your video and audio conversations.”

“No one can read your messages or hear your calls except the people who have these special keys – not even Facebook. We couldn’t even if we wanted to.

“Keep in mind that if you or the receiver of an end-to-end encrypted message or call chooses to share it with someone else outside of the conversation, they’ll be able to see or hear its contents.”

The feature already appeared deactivated for Australian users when Guardian Australia tested on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Meta told The Guardian that the decision to abandon encryption was due to low uptake.

“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,” the spokesperson said. “Anyone who wants to keep messaging with end-to-end encryption can easily do that on WhatsApp.”

According to The Guardian, Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, first flagged plans to roll out end-to-end encryption across Meta’s suite of platforms in 2019, but did not begin implementing it until 2023.

Meta had endured criticism from child safety groups and an alliance of law enforcement, including the FBI, Interpol, the UK’s National Crime Agency and the Australian federal police, who argued it would weaken the ability to keep children safe online.

A spokesperson for the Australian eSafety commissioner’s office said strong encryption plays an important role in protecting privacy and security, but where deployed, platforms should also prevent, detect and respond to harm.

“Where end-to-end encryption is implemented without appropriate safety measures, it can increase safety risks and prevent the identification of harms such as child sexual exploitation, terrorism and violent extremism,” the spokesperson said.

“Ultimately, whether to deploy end-to-end encryption is a business and design choice for platforms, but it does not remove a platform’s responsibility to prevent harm.”

Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, said rather than acceding to law enforcement demands, the move was more likely due to Meta deciding against moving messaging on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram to a single platform.

“The fact that WhatsApp is staying encrypted suggests that Meta might be pivoting to segregating social media from chat a bit more – the main distinction being that social media users can discover each other, whereas chat users need to know each other first,” he said.