WhatsApp would refuse to remove its end-to-end encryption if ordered to comply with a proposed online safety bill in the UK, the chat app’s chief said.
Speaking during a visit to the UK to meet with legislators to discuss the internet regulation, Meta's head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart said the app would rather be blocked in the UK than weaken its encryption, as it would do so for all users.
“98% of our users are outside the UK. They do not want us to lower the security of the product, and just as a straightforward matter, it would be an odd choice for us to choose to lower the security of the product in a way that would affect that 98% of users,” Cathcart said, per a BBC report.
"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."
The online safety bill is set to return to parliament this summer. If passed, the government or communications regulator Ofcom could require WhatsApp to apply content moderation policies that would require the app to remove end-to-end encryption or face large fines.
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