nobody

Instagram removed end-to-end encryption for all direct messages on May 8, 2026. Every private conversation you have on Instagram can now be read by Meta. The justification Meta gave publicly was that very few users had opted into the feature. What analysts noted is that the timing aligned precisely with the Take It Down Act deadline of May 19, 2026, a law requiring platforms to detect and remove harmful content within 48 hours. End-to-end encryption makes that detection impossible. Meta removed encryption to stay compliant and framed it as a housekeeping decision. Now combine that with the photo library access issue and the picture gets considerably worse. The technical reality of full photo library access is exactly what it sounds like. Instagram can browse every photo in your camera roll, not just the ones you choose to upload. Metadata embedded in those photos includes GPS coordinates, timestamps, device information, and in some cases facial recognition data. That information feeds Meta’s advertising and recommendation infrastructure regardless of whether you post the photo publicly. The critique here is about the trajectory, not any single decision in isolation. Meta spent years promoting privacy as a feature. The future is private was their actual marketing slogan. What has happened since is the systematic dismantling of every privacy protection they ever offered. E2EE introduced in 2023, removed May 2026. Private DMs now readable by Meta. Photo library access granted by users who were never clearly told what full access actually means. December 2025 Meta announced AI interactions in private conversations could be used for targeted advertising. Each individual decision has a defensible explanation. Taken together they represent a platform that collected user trust through privacy promises and is now quietly withdrawing them one feature at a time. The permission you granted during setup was not informed consent. It was a tap on a dialogue box most people did not read, granting access to a catalogue of personal photos to a company that just removed the last meaningful privacy protection from its messaging system.