Among several actions Meta—previously Facebook—is undertaking in response to the Russia-Ukraine war, including restricting state media and stepping up efforts on fact-checking, it said it will make end-to-end encrypted one-on-one chats available to all adults in Ukraine and Russia on Instagram.

Users on Instagram will also be notified by a banner at the top of their direct message inbox that informs them, if they want to, they can switch over to an encrypted conversation.

Other Meta-owned apps, like Messenger and WhatsApp, have been providing end-to-end encryption for some time. In WhatsApp, it's always on by default. Still, default end-to-end encryption won't fully arrive at Messenger until sometime in 2023, but the company has provided the ability to turn on end-to-end encryption for text chats within Messenger for many years. In addition, it has fully rolled out end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls within Messenger since January.

The company explained its decision to make the safety features available across both Ukraine and Russia. It suggested Russian activists speaking out against the war could also be at risk without the option.

Prominent Russians creators and influencers, activists and musicians, are using Facebook and Instagram to access information and speak out against the invasion," says Meta's president of global affairs Nick Clegg. Clegg was recently promoted to VP status. "We want them to continue to be able to do so. And we want people in Russia to continue to be able to hear from President Zelenskyy and others in Ukraine," he added.

The company has made several other changes in recent days as the crisis has unfolded, even as the Russian government has restricted access to Meta's services.
For end users, the changes aren't limited to encrypted Instagram DMs. Clegg said that the company also launched security features for users in Ukraine and Russia, where it gave the option for people to lock their Facebook profile and to take away their ability to view and search friend lists. The "Lock Profile" feature was first introduced in 2020 as a safety feature for women in India. It bars Facebook users from seeing the posts and photos of people they're not friends with, and prevents them from zooming into or downloading those users' profile pictures or cover photos, as well.