The feature that allows you to communicate using two platforms will be removed already in mid-December.
Meta added cross-platform Messenger and Instagram chat integration in 2020, but is currently removing it. As 9to5Google suggests, it is to avoid being penalized by regulators under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which requires large companies to be interoperability between messaging platforms.
From mid-December 2023, you will no longer be able to start new chats or call your Facebook friends from Instagram and vice versa. The history of previous dialogues will remain, but will be read-only. Accounts will also not be able to view the status of the interlocutor in another social network.
The EU passed the Digital Markets Act in 2022 as a means of deterring platform owners from gaining monopoly power. If a company exceeds a certain revenue threshold and the European Commission deems the platform excessively dominant, the business can face a maximum fine of 10% of global revenue.
Another Meta product, WhatsApp, was previously revealed to be preparing a “Third Party Chats” feature to help comply with new EU legislation.
