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WhatsApp will rather be blocked in UK than weaken encryption: CEO Will Cathcart

Weakening encryption to act against ‘illegal content’ can lead to pressure from other countries which define it very differently, says CEO

WhatsApp will refuse to comply with any laws that weaken privacy even if it means the app will be blocked, CEO Will Cathcart said on March 9, BBC reported. Cathcart was specifically referring to UK's Online Safety Bill, which contains provisions that might require messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Singal to break end-to-end encryption. What is end-to-end encryption: End-to-end (E2E) encryption ensures that no one can view the message other than the sender and the intended recipient, not even the platform that provides the messaging service (Meta/Whatsapp). Journalists, activists, and people who care about their privacy support E2E encryption, but law enforcement agencies are unhappy with it because it hinders their ability to carry out investigations and it also makes it difficult to fight child sexual abuse material (CSAM). But the problem with weakening encryption to satisfy law enforcement agencies is that the same door can be misused, such as by hackers to carry out cyber frauds or by governments to carry out surveillance and censorship. "We won't lower the security of WhatsApp. We have never done that - and we have accepted being blocked in other parts of the world. [...] When a liberal democracy says, 'Is it OK to scan everyone's private communication for illegal content?' that emboldens countries around the world that have very different definitions of illegal content to propose the same thing." — WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart Why does this matter: Cathcart's comments in the UK come at a time when countries around the world are trying…

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