Meta has announced the discontinuation of Messenger chats on Instagram, signaling a strategic shift in the social media landscape.

The elective cross-app feature, unveiled in 2019, united the company's messaging services (Messenger and Instagram), leaving WhatsApp as a distinct platform. However, a recently discovered support page on Instagram, as noted by 9to5Google, discloses that the chat integration is set to be eliminated by mid-December.

Following the cessation of this feature, initiating new conversations or calls with Facebook accounts through Instagram will be impossible.

Meta has outlined additional modifications, such as the transformation of existing chats with Facebook accounts into read-only mode, prohibiting the sending of any new messages.

Additionally, it means that Facebook accounts won't have the capability to observe a user's Activity Status or determine if a message has been read.

Furthermore, existing conversations with Facebook accounts won't transfer to the user's inbox on Facebook or Messenger as a result of this update. 

While the rationale behind these modifications remains undisclosed, there is speculation that they might be influenced by the European Digital Markets Act (DMA). 

In September of the current year, the European Commission accused six major tech companies of "gatekeeping," with Meta being one of the implicated entities.

Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market said in a statement in September, "More choice for consumers, fewer obstacles for smaller competitors," adding, "The DMA will open the gates to the internet."