Meta: Messenger and Instagram Chats to Be Disconnected—But Why?

When Meta first unveiled the cross-app communication feature on Messenger and Instagram, it received a mixed perception from the public, and now, the company has decided to soon remove it altogether. Before the year ends, Meta will disconnect Messenger and Instagram Chats, using the shared protocol from Messenger that enables an all-in-one messaging platform for users.

Starting later this December, Meta will no longer allow users to create new chats and conversations using cross-platform features, having the need to go to separate apps.

Meta: Messenger, Instagram Chats to be Disconnected

Meta announced its plans to disconnect the cross-app feature available on Messenger and Instagram chats, with the company no longer allowing new conversations moving forward. Starting this mid-December, with an unspecified date, Meta will begin removing the feature it released around three years ago but claimed that it will leave past conversations untouched.

That being said, these chats will be read-only, and further messages will no longer be sent. Moreover, these existing chats will not make their way to your Messenger or Instagram chat inboxes.

It was previously said that this shared protocol under Messenger allows a cross-platform messaging experience across Facebook accounts.

Why is Meta Removing this Cross-App Feature?

A report from 9to5 Google claims that the reason behind this feature removal is due to the European Union's Digital Markets Act, with Meta looking to avoid "regulatory consequences." The said DMA will hold a maximum penalty of 10 percent of its global turnover from the previous year should it become "overly dominant."

Nevertheless, Meta did not confirm the exact reason as to why it removed the feature.

Meta's Messenger and Instagram Chats

Back in 2019, Facebook (now known as Meta) announced the feature where cross-app communications are available to access, offering a way to use one app across its platforms for messaging. This included Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp to all work together and share messages with each other, with users allowed to create conversations with certain usernames.

This rolled out in 2020, and it led to a mixed reception by the public.

Later on, Meta allowed users to disconnect the cross-app feature between Messenger and Instagram via their iPhones, Androids, and computers to avoid confusion. While this was available before, users need to manually change their settings to disconnect the experience.

However, it is a different story now, as Meta will do this automatically for users starting mid-December, and it will no longer allow users to create new conversations from people outside a specific app to message each other. Conversations done here will allow users to read the chat history available, and these will be left to access but remains unclear if it was because of the DMA.