The cross-platform chat feature is reportedly going away, having been rolled out with much fanfare less than three years ago.
Key Takeaways
- Meta is reportedly ending cross-app messaging between Instagram and Facebook Messenger after less than three years, leaving users unable to chat with Facebook friends on Instagram from mid-October.
- The reason behind this change is not officially stated, but speculations suggest regulatory scrutiny and potential antitrust violations as a possible reason for Meta’s decision.
- Meta has previously focused on linking Facebook and Instagram, allowing users to share Stories, Posts, and Reels across the platforms. The future of these integration features remains uncertain following the removal of cross-app messaging.
Meta is reportedly all set to end the cross-app messaging support between Instagram and Facebook Messenger. The feature was rolled out back in 2020 with much fanfare when Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced the cross-platform messaging feature, making it easier for Instagram users to message their Facebook friends, and vice-versa. However, that feature is now seemingly going away after less than three years.
According to a screenshot shared by tipster and software reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, people may no longer be able to chat with their Facebook friends on Instagram from mid-October, when the existing chat threads will become read-only. Paluzzi did not reveal any further information regarding the impending change, but his screenshot seems to show a message from Instagram, urging users to move to Facebook or Messenger to carry on their conversations on those platforms.
Meta hasn’t made an official statement about the rumored change, so it’s not immediately clear why the company is taking this step that is likely to be highly unpopular among users. However, online speculations suggest that it could be due to regulatory scrutiny, as linking two massive social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram may have been a violation of antitrust laws in critical markets like the U.S. That being said, we haven’t heard anything about an antitrust investigation in this matter, so it’s hard to tell why Meta felt the need to de-link Facebook and Instagram at this stage.
It is worth noting that over the years, Meta has worked overtime on linking Facebook and Instagram. Alongside cross-platform messaging, the company also allows users to share Stories, Posts, and Reels across the two platforms. Now that the cross-app messaging feature is seemingly all set to become a thing of the past, it remains to be seen whether the other integration features will also go away at some stage in the future.
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