WhatsApp could be about to disappear in the UK due to a disagreement between the app and the government.
The government's online safety bill has been a matter of contention between the two, as it will give Ofcom the power to impose requirements for social networks to use technology to tackle terrorism or child sexual abuse content. The bill is more than four years in the making and is more than 250 pages long.
The bill will give Ofcom permission to issue fines of up to 10% of global turnover for services that do not comply. Companies must use “best endeavours” to develop or source technology to obey the notice, according to The Guardian.
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However, for messaging apps that secure their user data with ‘end-to-end encryption’, such as WhatsApp. It is technologically impossible to read user messages without breaking their promises to users. An open letter was issued by a coalition of providers, including the market leaders WhatsApp and Signal last month.
It said: "The bill provides no explicit protection for encryption and if implemented as written, could empower Ofcom to try to force the proactive scanning of private messages on end-to-end encrypted communication services, nullifying the purpose of end-to-end encryption as a result and compromising the privacy of all users.”
If push came to shove, they say, they would choose to protect the security of their non-UK users. WhatsApp’s chief, Will Cathcart, told the Guardian: “Ninety-eight per cent of our users are outside the UK. They do not want us to lower the security of the product, and just as a straightforward matter, it would be an odd choice for us to choose to lower the security of the product in a way that would affect those 98% of users.”
Legislators have called on the government to take the concerns seriously. Claire Fox told the House of Lords: “These services, such as WhatsApp, will potentially leave the UK. This is not like threatening to storm off.
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“It is not done in any kind of pique in that way. In putting enormous pressure on these platforms to scan communications, we must remember that they are global platforms.
“They have a system that works for billions of people all around the world. A relatively small market such as the UK is not something for which they would compromise their billions of users around the world.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We support strong encryption, but this cannot come at the cost of public safety. Tech companies have a moral duty to ensure they are not blinding themselves and law enforcement to the unprecedented levels of child sexual abuse on their platforms.
“The online safety bill in no way represents a ban on end-to-end encryption, nor will it require services to weaken encryption.
“Where it is the only effective, proportionate and necessary action available, Ofcom will be able to direct platforms to use accredited technology, or make best endeavours to develop new technology, to accurately identify child sexual abuse content, so it can be taken down and the despicable predators brought to justice.”
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