Good news for serial ghosters, Instagram has announced that it will soon introduce the ability to disable read receipts in direct messages (DM).
This means that other users will not be able to tell that you have read their messages, with the “seen” label removed from read messages.
Instagram says it is currently testing the feature, although it has remained tight-lipped about plans to roll it out more widely.
Social media users remained divided over the decision.
While some called it a “must-have feature”, others were unimpressed, with one calling the decision “not fun”.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that users will soon be able to choose whether to enable or disable read receipts.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the upcoming changes on their Instagram broadcast channels.
In his post, Mosseri said: “We’ve heard your feedback and have started testing a new feature that lets you turn off read receipts in your DMs.
“Soon people will be able to choose when to show others when they have read their messages.”
However, he didn’t specify what he meant by “soon” or whether the feature would be available to all users at once.
Mosseri also included a photo showing what the option will look like.
In the Privacy & Security settings, under the “Who can see your activity” category, users have the option to enable or disable read receipts.
Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the announcement on his Instagram Broadcast channel, saying the feature was currently being tested.
On X (formerly Twitter), many social media users welcomed the announcement, with one saying it was: “Better late than never.”
The setting’s description says: “Others can see when you’ve read their messages.” Messages in disappearing mode always send read receipts.
Zuckerberg, writing on his Instagram Broadcast channel, joked: “If you’re someone who lets people read: your day has come.”
He then clarified that the company was “testing the possibility of disabling read receipts on Instagram DMs.”
On X (formerly Twitter), many social media users welcomed the announcement, with one saying: “Better late than never.”
“Finally,” another commenter wrote, “some good news.”
Good news for serial ghosters, Instagram has announced that it will soon introduce the ability to disable read receipts in direct messages (DM).
Not everyone is happy with the change, and some commenters said they would no longer be able to see if their posts had been read.
Meanwhile, another added that it was a “must have feature”.
However, not everyone is as happy with the plan, and a few commenters lamented the loss of the ability to check if anyone has read their posts.
“Oh so now I can’t even tell when I’m being ignored,” wrote one frustrated commenter.
“No,” another social media user wrote, “my toxic can’t handle this,” while one simply replied: “Well that’s no fun.”
Instagram has not confirmed whether the feature will eventually expand to Facebook Messenger, which is also owned by Meta.
WhatsApp has been able to deactivate read receipts since the company was acquired by Meta, then Facebook, in 2014.
Meta was also involved in rolling out WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption to other messaging sites under its control.
The company plans to include end-to-end encryption by default for Instagram DMs after it finishes integrating the feature into Messenger.
In August, Meta announced that end-to-end encryption should become the default encryption on Messenger by early 2024.
