Instagram users urged to 'stop everything' and save messages as Meta makes huge change that impacts millions

Meta's social media monopoly is holding strong, and with Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram being the three biggest in terms of active users, it remains king of the castle.

Still, Mark Zuckerberg's social media empire continues to come under fire amid civil trials about addictiveness, privacy lawsuits over smart glasses, and alarming claims about sexual predators targeting younger users.

Away from all of these, there are just general grumbles that Meta continues to change its platforms – much to the umbrage of users. Now, Instagram is set to make a sweeping change that will affect millions and has led to yet more privacy concerns.

Meta has confirmed (via its support pages) that Instagram will no longer offer end-to-end encryption on its DMs, leading to a PSA from nextpit that users should 'stop everything' and save their messages now. If you're currently using end-to-end encryption, you can bring those encrypted messages with you to the standard messaging experience.

Simply head to your E2EE inbox and download or export your messages. Be warned that if you're on an older version of the app, you'll have to update before being able to export your chat history.

Social media platforms are under pressure to monitor what's being sent in private chats, especially given that younger users are potentially being exposed to inappropriate conversations. Even though this comes with privacy concerns from some, the fact that E2EE prevents even platform owners from viewing your private messages has led to campaigns that things aren't being moderated enough.

Facebook and WhatsApp are set to continue with their end-to-end encryption, leaving Instagram as the black sheep of the family.

Meta reiterated that the feature will be removed from Instagram on May 8, blaming a slow uptake on end-to-end encryption. This would seemingly suggest that many of us aren't that bothered, although the backlash would suggest otherwise.

The negatives of losing end-to-end encryption on Instagram messages mean that your chats will now be stored on Meta servers, where they can be subjected to moderation or even used to train the company's artificial intelligence models.

These latest changes come after the UK's media regulator, Ofcom, gave giants ranging from TikTok to Instagram until April 30 to enforce age limits and add protocols to stop bad actors from potentially messaging minors. Ofcom said it would publish details of platforms that refuse to comply or simply don't respond, with CEO Dame Melanie Dawes adding: "These online services are household names, but they’re failing to put children’s safety at the heart of their products.

"There is a gap between what tech companies promise in private, and what they’re doing publicly to keep children safe on their platforms.

"Without the right protections, like effective age checks, children have been routinely exposed to risks they didn’t choose, on services they can’t realistically avoid. That must now change quickly, or Ofcom will act."

Removing end-to-end encryption has left people on the fence, with critics arguing that Meta has the ability to offer both privacy and protection for minors. We've already seen this with the implementation of parent-managed WhatsApp accounts, but for now, Meta looks like it's moving forward with making those private Instagram chats a little less private.