UK seeks to calm jittery Big Tech firms on new encryption rules
Some big tech companies in our lives.
The British government on Wednesday attempted to reassure Big Tech companies by giving guarantees to instant messaging platforms over fears that they may be forced to monitor encrypted messages for harmful content.
A number of tech companies, including Meta-owned WhatsApp and Signal had expressed concern at a proposed law that may compel them to stop end-to-end encryption of private communication.
But junior culture, media and sports minister Stephen Parkinson said the government had "no intention... to weaken the encryption technology used by the platforms".
"We have built-in strong safeguards into the bill to ensure that users' privacy is protected," he told a debate in the upper chamber House of Lords.
The Online Safety Bill is currently making its way through the British Parliament. It has been introduced to crack down on harmful content
Encryption is a feature of many instant messaging platforms but Parkinson said companies would not be forced into digital snooping of users.
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He added that UK communications regulator Ofcom "cannot require companies to use proactive technology on private communications in order to comply with these duties".
"Ofcom can only require the use of a technology, a private communication service, by issuing a notice to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse content."
Instead, it will only be able to make the platforms look at private messages "where technically feasible... in detecting only child sexual abuse and exploitation content".
The Financial Times interviewed experts who said that such technology could be years away.
The heads of WhatsApp, Signal and Wire, among others, wrote an open letter in April and underlined the privacy of their services.
"We don't think any company, government or person should have the power to read your personal messages and we'll continue to defend encryption technology," they said.
WhatsApp has previously refused to comply with the legislation. This had triggered speculation that the messaging platform would leave the UK.
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Element, a British instant messenger, had also indicated that it might leave the country if the law was passed.
The UK government assured at the time that it had no intention of "introducing routine reviews of private communications".
(With inputs from agencies)
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