1. Meta is pulling back on end‑to‑end encryption
“Meta starting introducing E2E messaging it was a huge push. I wonder why they're doing away with it.” – garbawarb
“It was for plausible deniability… now there's no downside and only upsides to spying on your users.” – gmerc
2. The real drivers are business and regulation, not privacy
“I assume they no longer believe the marketing benefits outweigh the downsides.” – john_strinlai
“…the product reason – AI features are fundamentally incompatible with E2EE.” – paxys
“They never did this for user privacy… they want to read your messages for training AI and for advertising.” – yobid20
3. Users feel betrayed and lose trust in the platform
“I’m not sure if anyone in HN has any useful advice… it’s another brick in the wall.” – everdrive
“The worst offenders on the internet have verified accounts and are public figures… getting rid of anonymity will do NOTHING to halt the march of internet‑fueled extremism.” – abnercoimbre
“People who otherwise would have gone their entire lives without ever hearing about encryption were exposed to the term and the marketing convinced them that encryption and privacy was a valuable thing.” – john_strinlai
4. Network effects keep people on the platform even without privacy
“Normal people don't choose a messaging app based on E2EE but based on whether their friends use it.” – gzread
“The only reason I can think of for this change is governmental pressure… but it’s also about the product.” – mvrckhckr
“If someone’s given the choice between Instagram and IRC, and chooses Instagram because they heard it has E2EE, that’s a loss.” – gzread
These four threads—Meta’s policy shift, the business/regulatory motives, the erosion of user trust, and the stubborn pull of social network effects—capture the core of the discussion.