WhatsApp could exit the UK market if it is forced to end end-to-end encryption

Meta-owned WhatsApp has said it will exit the UK market if it has to weaken end-to-end encryption for users under the upcoming Online Safety Bill.

In a press conference with reporters, WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart criticized the legislation as the most concerning online regulation in the Western world, reported Wired.

“We have recently been blocked in Iran, for example. But we’ve never seen a liberal democracy do that,” Cathcart said in reports.

“Ninety-eight percent of our users are outside the UK. It would be a strange choice for us to lower the security of the product in a way that would affect those 98 percent of users,” he said categorically.

Cathcart says he’s worried the bill could make it harder for WhatsApp and other messaging platforms to offer end-to-end encryption.

“It’s hard to imagine that we’re having this conversation about a liberal democracy that might circumvent people’s ability to communicate privately,” he told reporters.

A provision in the Online Safety Bill requires tech companies to use “accredited technology” to screen user posts for child sexual abuse material, or CSAM.

According to security researchers, it is impossible to implement such a measure without breaking end-to-end encryption.

In 2021, Apple introduced plans to scan user messages for CSAM, but dropped them after criticism from security researchers.

The Online Safety Bill will also place a burden on Big Tech, with companies that fail to comply with the new rules facing fines of up to £18m or 10 per cent of their annual global turnover, whichever is greater.

New measures in the law include stricter and faster criminal sanctions for technology leaders and new crimes for falsifying and destroying data.

The Online Safety Act requires social media platforms, search engines and other applications and websites that allow people to post their own content to protect children, prevent illegal activity and comply with stated terms of use.

“The Bill will strengthen people’s rights to express themselves freely online and ensure that social media companies do not take away legitimate free speech. For the first time, users will have the right to complain if they feel their posts have been removed unfairly,” former digital secretary Nadine Dorries said last year.

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