Meta is killing a feature that allowed direct messaging between its different social media platforms – less than three years after it launched.
So-called ‘cross-app’ chats between Instagram and Facebook will no longer be possible in ‘mid-December 2023,’ according to an update quietly released by Meta.
Fortunately, your old conversations that happened across the two apps will still be available – but you won’t be able to reply to them or start new ones.
In August 2020 Facebook rolled out an update that merged Instagram with Messenger. But now the company is ending the cross-app compatibility
There was no public fanfare to the new announcement, which appears to have been published on or before November 21, The Verge noticed.
The DailyMail.com has reached out to Meta for comment on why the company is making this move. This article will be updated if we receive a response.
Meta had said the 2020 cross-app chat merger would make it more convenient for Facebook Messenger users to message friends and family without having to download Instagram, and vice versa.
Meta did not explain its reasoning behind de-linking its different platforms’ messaging abilities
Some observers have noted that the change could be due to European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a sweeping piece of legislation aimed at limiting big tech companies’ market dominance.
The DMA’s intent is to make it easier for consumers to move between different competing services, including ‘social media platforms, internet browsers, and app stores,’ according to Reuters.
WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, appears to be developing a third-party chats feature that will be DMA-compatible, according to 9 to 5 Mac.
Users should still be able to search and view their existing messages that they sent between Instagram and Messenger, but all the other cross-app functionality will disappear.
Meta has not announced a specific date for the cutoff.
Here are the full details of the update, from Instagram’s help center. The details of the new development are pretty self-explanatory, even if the reasoning is not:
