British users may soon find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to WhatsApp.
Meta’s head of the popular messaging app, Will Cathcart, said WhatsApp would refuse to comply with the UK government’s proposed Online Safety Bill, according to The Guardian(opens in a new tab).
If passed, according to Lexology(opens in a new tab), online platforms would be held liable for publishing certain kinds of abuse, including child sexual abuse, cyberbullying, extreme sexual violence, fraud, hate speech, inciting violence and revenge porn, among other forms. They would also be required to remove these forms.
The UK’s Office of Communications, or Ofcom, would be granted enforcement powers as a result. Critics say these would include the power for private encrypted-messaging apps, like WhatsApp, "to adopt ‘accredited technology’ to identify and remove child-abuse material," according to the BBC(opens in a new tab).
If this occurs, Cathcart told The Guardian, WhatsApp would refuse to comply, because it would force them to stop end-to-end encryption.
"Ninety-eight percent of our users are outside the UK," Cathcart said. "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 98 percent of users."
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the UK, with more than seven in 10 adults using it, the BBC reported, citing Ofcom.
Signal also making noise it won't comply with UK
Officials with Signal, another messaging app, previously also said they wouldn’t comply with the UK government should the Online Safety Bill become law, reported the BBC.
The bill is expected to return to Parliament over the summer, The Guardian reports.
