The head of WhatsApp has said the popular app could be pulled from Britain if the Government presses ahead with a controversial new law.
WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart said the company would not comply if the new Online Safety Bill forced it to scan messages for child abuse or terrorist material.
The controversial Online Safety Bill has been working its way through Parliament since being published in draft form in May 2021.
Under the bill, the Government or Ofcom could require WhatsApp to moderate content. But critics point out that's impossible without removing end-to-end encryption.
And if the company stayed in the UK and refused, it could face enormous fines of up to around $5billion.
WhatsApp rival Signal has already said that it “would absolutely, 100% walk” from the UK if it was forced to break encryption.
We’ve recently been blocked in Iran, for example. We’ve never seen a liberal democracy do that.
When a liberal democracy says, ‘It is 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,
Mr Cathcart said.