Instagram to remove end-to-end encryption for private messages in May
Instagram will stop encrypting private messages between users from May, after enduring years of criticism from law enforcement and child safety groups over the feature.Meta quietly announced this month on 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.It means Meta will be able to see the contents of messages between all users – which so far it only could for those who did not enable encryption.The feature already appeared deactivated for Australian users, when Guardian Australia tested on Wednesday.A spokesperson for Meta said 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.”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, and 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.Money was also likely a factor, he said, with Meta potentially able to use message contents to determine advertising and train chatbots.
“They may not be doing that now, but the commercial pressure to do it is huge, so it feels inevitable that they will if they’re not already,” he said.Sulston said more tech companies, not less, should be moving to end-to-end encryption.“Why not improve the product, rather than continue to enshittify it?”
US postal service will run out of money by February 2027, says agency chief
The US Postal Service will run out of funds within a year, unless lawmakers lift a cap on how much money the agency can borrow, according to the postmaster general.In an interview with the Associated Press, David Steiner warned that the postal service – which relies on stamps and service fees rather than tax dollars to deliver mail six days a week to every address in the country – would run out of cash for employees and vendors by February next year.The agency has operated with a financial shortfall almost every fiscal year since 2007, as people and businesses have moved toward paperless billing and digital communication, forgoing first-class mail. But mail deliveries have continued, with USPS borrowing money from the US treasury to compensate for losses.Steiner, who is scheduled to testify before Congress this month, has called for changes to a federal law that caps the agency’s borrowing at $15bn
Reeves plans to give England’s regional leaders a share of national tax revenues
Rachel Reeves has announced that the Treasury will draw up proposals to hand England’s mayors a share of national tax revenues as part of a radical plan to rebalance the economy.The chancellor promised “a genuine break with the past” that would shift spending power away from Westminster, as she promised to create investment-led growth across the UK.Reeves was delivering the Mais lecture – the second time she has given the high-profile annual address at Bayes Business School in London.It is no coincidence that the UK is “the most politically centralised of advanced democracies, and one of the most geographically unequal”, Reeves said.Treasury officials will bring forward a plan at the autumn budget to allow regional leaders to receive a share of national taxes, starting with income tax, she added
Instagram to remove end-to-end encryption for private messages in May
Instagram will stop encrypting private messages between users from May, after enduring years of criticism from law enforcement and child safety groups over the feature.Meta quietly announced this month on 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.It means Meta will be able to see the contents of messages between all users – which so far it only could for those who did not enable encryption.The feature already appeared deactivated for Australian users, when Guardian Australia tested on Wednesday.A spokesperson for Meta said the decision to abandon encryption was due to low uptake
Subnautica 2 publisher’s CEO used ChatGPT in failed bid to avoid paying US$250m bonus to own studio head, court hears
A South Korean gaming publisher who hatched a plan using ChatGPT to remove the heads of one of its own game studios in a bid to avoid paying US$250m has been ordered by a US court to reverse the removal.The dispute stems from South Korean game developer Krafton’s acquisition of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, makers of the Subnautica video game, for $500m in 2021.Krafton agreed the studio would remain independent and that its leadership would retain operational control and could only be fired for cause, according to the ruling by vice-chancellor Lori Will of the court of chancery in Delaware.If Unknown Worlds met certain targets, Krafton would pay the studio what is known as an earnout worth up to $250m.As the studio was last year ramping up to release Subnautica 2, internal projections showed it would trigger the earnout, according to the ruling
Venezuela 3-2 United States: World Baseball Classic final – as it happened
The USMark DeRosa does not deliver. His team barely squeaks by the DR in the semis and then falls short v Team Venezuela, with their team of studs unable to capitalize on Bryce Harper’s dramatic, eighth inning, two-run shot that tied the game. They never really hit in this tournament, despite the laundry list of talent up and down the lineup. Aaron Judge is once agains the poster boy for failing to come up with the big hits in big spots – he was hit-less tonight with three strikeouts. For all of Team USA, heading back to Spring Training, that is one bad way to start a very long season
Venezuela win first World Baseball Classic title after taming USA in politically fraught final
Venezuela defeated the United States 3-2 on Tuesday night to win their first World Baseball Classic title, a landmark triumph in a politically charged final that resonated far beyond the diamond.Eugenio Suárez drove in the winning run in the top of the ninth inning to seal a dramatic victory for the South American side at Miami’s LoanDepot Park.After Daniel Palencia struck out Roman Anthony with a 100mph fastball for the final out, Venezuelan players poured onto the field, many draped in their national flag, celebrating a moment years in the making.“Nobody believed in Venezuela, but now we win the championship today,” an elated Suárez said afterwards. “What can I say about this? God is good! Jesus, he was with us the whole time
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