A tool that allows you to chat on Instagram with friends on Facebook may soon be removed by Meta. The corporation has decided to discontinue the cross-platform integration that it installed in 2020, effective mid-December. Although it didn’t give an explanation, 9to5Google surmises that it done so to avoid regulatory repercussions in the EU, which makes sense.
The cross-platform integration, which was optional and unveiled in 2019, blurred the boundaries between two of the business’s most well-liked services when it went live a year later. Messenger Vice President Loredena Crisan stated at the time that “just like today you could talk to a Gmail account if you have a Yahoo account, these accounts will be able to talk to each other through the shared protocol that is Messenger.”
According to Meta, you won’t be able to initiate new conversations or phone calls with Facebook friends from Instagram after “mid-December 2023.” Any ongoing discussions you have on Instagram with Facebook accounts will become read-only. Additionally, your activity status and read receipts will no longer be visible to Facebook accounts. Lastly, neither platform’s inbox will receive any conversations you’ve already had with Facebook profiles.
The EU created the historic Digital Markets Act, which was passed in 2022, to prevent platform owners from obtaining monopoly power. A corporation faces a potential penalty of 10% of its total global turnover from the previous year if it exceeds a revenue threshold and the European Commission finds the platform to be unduly dominant. Perhaps Meta saw the writing on the wall and decided that the Instagram / Facebook cross-messaging capability wasn’t worth the risk, especially considering the enforcement “stick” this gives the governing body.
