LONDON — British Home Secretary James Cleverly has some stern words for Meta after the company said it had started rolling out encryption on its Messenger service.
Government ministers, law enforcement agencies and some child protection groups have warned the move will make it more difficult to remove child sexual abuse material from the platform and to prosecute child abusers.
Cleverly said on Thursday he was “incredibly disappointed Meta has not listened – especially when we have worked together to make great progress in tackling other online harms.”
In a statement the minister said that the rollout lacked “appropriate safety measures” and “would empower child sex abusers and hamper the ability of the police and National Crime Agency to bring offenders to justice.”
“We know that end-to-end encryption can be implemented responsibly in a way that is consistent with public safety” said Cleverly, but added that the move represents “a significant step back.”
When Suella Braverman was at the helm, the Home Office launched a campaign specifically targeting Meta’s encryption push, urging the company to reconsider.
Meta meanwhile says the update will make users safer. “The content of your messages and calls with friends and family are protected from the moment they leave your device to the moment they reach the receiver’s device,” said a Meta spokesperson.
“This means that nobody, including Meta, can see what’s sent or said, unless you choose to report a message to us.”
This is a view typically shared by privacy campaigners.
A battle over encryption has raged in the debates around the recently passed Online Safety Act, which some legal experts argue invests Ofcom with powers to order companies to break encryption over child safety concerns.
Government and Ofcom officials have repeatedly said that right now, technology that could bypass encryption yet preserve privacy doesn’t exist, and that platforms would never be forced to do something that wasn’t “technically feasible.”
However, a new bill containing amendments to the Investigatory Powers Act also contains provisions some argue could be deployed to stop companies rolling out encryption.
Companies including WhatsApp, Signal and Apple have threatened to pull out of the U.K. if they are forced to break encryption.
