Meta wants to ensure that the end-to-end encryption on Instagram and Messenger doesn't interfere with the platform's ability to help stop criminal activity.
Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp parent company Meta is known to delay the rollout of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) by default on Messenger and Instagram until 2023. First reported by The Guardian, the company does not want to sacrifice user security from possible criminal action. .
Last year Meta - while still bearing the name Facebook, merged Messenger and Instagram chats. The merger is part of a plan to create a unified messaging system across all platforms. However, E2EE in both applications is not available by default and must be activated first by each user.
In a post on The Telegraph reported by The Verge (22/11), Antigone Davis, Meta's head of security linked the delay to concerns over user safety. Because with E2EE, only the sender and recipient of the message can see their conversation.
Davis said Meta wants to make sure E2EE doesn't interfere with the platform's ability to help stop criminal activity. Once E2EE is available by default, Davis wants the company to ensure public safety and says, “Will use a combination of unencrypted data across our applications, account information, and reports from users.”
Previously, Meta was known to bring E2EE by default for Instagram and Messenger as early as 2022. But after Davis announced his statement that Meta wanted to "get it right," the company postponed the feature until 2023.