Facebook temporarily disables certain Messenger and Instagram features in Europe to comply with EU data rules

Some features of Messenger and Instagram are temporarily unavailable to users in Europe in order to comply with new data use rules being rolled out in EU countries.

Affected users see alerts in Facebook-owned apps stating that certain features are not available to “comply with the new rules for messaging services in Europe”.

The alert does not specify which features are missing, but The edge notes that surveys on Messenger and Instagram are currently disabled in Europe, while stickers on Instagram are not available, as are personalized responses in Messenger. Each support page for the above features currently carries the notice:

This feature may not be available if you are located in Europe or if you are sending a message with an account based in Europe to comply with the new rules of the courier service. We are working to bring him back.

The temporary changes would be Facebook’s compliance with national implementations of the 2002 Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (Online Privacy Directive), which imposes stricter rules on the use of data in services. communication services operating in countries that are part of the EU.

Other missing features may include disabling sending files to Messenger, missing nicknames, and the ability to share AR effects in DMs on Instagram.

Users in the UK also do not have the features, as EU law continues to apply in the UK during the Brexit transition period (which is due to last until December 31, 2020).

Facebook did not give a specific time frame to restore the missing features, but said The edge they would come back “very soon”.