The leader of the chat app has stated that WhatsApp would reject any provisions in the internet safety bill that aimed to forbid end-to-end encryption standards, raising concerns about the service’s future in the UK.
Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp at Meta, described the bill as the most alarming piece of legislation pending in the western world on a visit to the UK, where he would meet MPs to discuss the government’s centerpiece internet reform.
It’s amazing to think about, he declared. It is impossible to change it in just one region of the planet. The truth about shipping a secure product is that some nations have opted to block it. For instance, we recently encountered a blockage in Iran. Nevertheless, we’ve never seen it in a liberal democracy.
The truth is that all of our users demand security, according to Cathcart. “98% of our users are located outside of the UK. They do not want us to compromise the product’s security, and it would be a strange decision on our part to do so in a way that would negatively affect 98% of consumers.
Messaging services employ “end-to-end” encryption to make it impossible for anybody other than the intended recipients to decrypt the communication. Due to its own service’s inability to read messages, WhatsApp is unable to abide by legal requirements to turn over messages or requests to actively monitor communications for the protection of children or counterterrorism efforts.
Because of the 2016 investigatory powers act, the UK government already has the authority to request that encryption be turned off, but according to Cathcart, WhatsApp has never been given a formal legal order to do so. Due to the legal “grey area,” the internet safety measure represents a worrying increase in that power.
According to the bill, WhatsApp may force to adhere to content moderation regulations that would be hard to follow without disabling end-to-end encryption. If the business refused, it might be fined up to 4% of the parent firm Meta’s annual revenue, unless it completely withdrew from the UK market.
Cathcart argued that analogous legislation in other countries, such as the EU’s Digital Markets Act, clearly supports end-to-end encryption for messaging services. He asked for the UK bill to include similar language before it was passed. “It could specify that the framework should take into account security and privacy. The document could state unequivocally that end-to-end encryption should remain. It may be possible to implement additional procedural safeguards to prevent this from being decided solely by the court.
