The government in the United Kingdom has denied it is changing plans to force messaging apps to access users’ private messages if requested by the regulator Ofcom.
There has been a stand-off between the UK government and tech firms over a clause in the Online Safety Bill relating to encrypted messages.
These are messages that can only be seen by the sender and recipient.
The Bill states that if there are concerns about child abuse content, tech companies might have to access it.
But platforms like WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage say they cannot access or view anybody’s messages without destroying existing privacy protections for all users, and have threatened to leave the UK rather than compromise message security.
The debate has raged for several months and for some it has turned into an argument about privacy versus the protection of children. The government insists it is possible to have both.
The Online Safety Bill is due to become law in autumn and cleared its final stage in the House of Lords on Wednesday before returning to the commons.
The government has denied that its position has changed. In a statement in the House of Lords, the minister, Lord Parkinson, clarified that if the technology to access messages without breaking their security did not exist, then Ofcom would have the power to ask companies to develop the ability to identify and remove illegal child sexual abuse content on their platforms.
Indeed, the Bill already stated that the regulator Ofcom would only ask tech firms to access messages once “feasible technology” had been developed which would specifically only target child abuse content and not break encryption.
The government has tasked tech firms with inventing these tools.
