WhatsApp Threatens to Leave England, Here’s the Reason!
WhatsApp threatens to leave the UK rather than submit to the Online Safety Bill. This bill is considered controversial because it involves technology end-to-end encryptionwhich is owned by WhatsApp.
Please note that encryption end-to-end is a technology that ensures that only users and those with whom they communicate can read or listen to what is sent. None of them not even Meta and Facebook.
However, the UK Government and several child protection charities, argue that such encryption hinders efforts to combat the growing problem of online child abuse.
Under the bill, the government can force WhatsApp to implement content moderation policies that would be impossible to enforce without removing encryption end-to-end.
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If WhatsApp refuses to do so, the messaging app could face fines of up to 4 percent of the annual turnover of its parent company Meta.
However, this policy was rejected by WhatsApp. Head of WhatsApp Meta, Will Cathcart said he would refuse to comply if asked to weaken encryption. Because if you do this, it will affect all users.
“Our users around the world want security. About 98% of our users are outside the UK, they don’t want us to compromise product safety,” he said.
quoted The telephone from Mac Rumors on Saturday (11/03/2023), Cathcart explained that they were prepared to be blocked by the British government if they did not comply with these regulations.
“We are not going to lower the security of WhatsApp. We’ve never done that – and we’ve received blocks in other parts of the world,” explains Cathcart.
“When liberal democracies say, ‘Is it OK to scan everyone’s private communications for illegal content?’ it allows countries around the world that have very different definitions of illegal content to propose the same thing,” said Cathcart.
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Apart from WhatsApp, Signal President Meredith Whittaker has also threatened to stop its service in the UK if the bill requires it to scan messages.
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform in the UK. The UK government’s Online Security Bill is expected to return to parliament this summer. [NM/IF]
