Meta delays end-to-end encryption for Instagram and Facebook

Instagram and Facebook Messenger will not have end-to-end encryption by default until 2023, contrary to what Meta stated earlier this year. Meta unified Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct Messages last year as part of its aim to establish a single instant messaging network that would eventually include WhatsApp.

Antigone Davis, Meta's head of safety, attributed the delay to user safety concerns in a piece on The Telegraph. He wrote, "We are taking our time to get this right, and we don't plan to finish the worldwide rollout of end-to-end encryption by default across all of our messaging services until sometime in 2023." While end-to-end encryption means that only the sender and receiver can read the communication, Davis added that the business wants to make sure that end-to-end encryption does not compromise user safety. Once it is enabled by default, the business will employ a combination of encrypted and non-encrypted data across its apps to help keep them secure.

Previously this year, Meta announced that end-to-end encryption for Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger will be available as early as 2022. However, the company's head of security has stated that the function must be perfected; therefore, it will be delayed until 2023.