The future of WhatsApp’s operations in Britain is in jeopardy after its chief, Will Cathcart, stated the platform would not comply with the UK’s planned Internet Safety Law.
UK’s New Encryption Laws
With full encryption in place, it would be hard for a platform to comply with the UK government’s planned online safety bill, which would compel social media and messaging services to apply updated moderation standards to all user content.
To avoid fines of up to 4% of its annual revenue, Meta is currently in the process of making complete encryption the default for Messenger and Instagram Direct. The UK Government has criticized Meta’s increased encryption campaign, calling it ‘catastrophic’.
Meta, though, is uninterested in reversing its ambitions to increase its encryption capabilities in light of the growing expectation of privacy among its users.
