Facebook is notifying Messenger and Instagram users in Europe that some features are temporarily unavailable. A small message has appeared in both the Facebook Messenger and Instagram apps for European users this week, noting that some features aren’t available to “respect new rules for messaging services in Europe.”
Facebook doesn’t outline exactly what features will be missing, but the company does reveal on its support pages that polls on both Messenger and Instagram are currently unavailable in Europe, alongside a lack of stickers in Instagram and no personalized replies on Messenger. Other missing features may include a lack of certain file sends on Messenger, missing nicknames, or the ability to share AR effects in DMs on Instagram.
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Facebook has temporarily disabled some of these features to comply with new rules on data usage in EU countries. It’s part of the national implementations that are taking place of the 2002 Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (ePrivacy Directive). This directive imposes stricter rules on data use across communications services that operate in countries that are part of the European Union.
It’s not clear when Facebook will reinstate these features for European users, but a spokesperson tells The Verge that most will return “very soon.”
