If Facebook’s owner moves forward with encrypted chat without making arrangements to address child sex abuse, Priti Patel has warned of a “grotesque betrayal.”
The Home Secretary argued that rolling out end-to-end encryption across all of Meta’s platforms with “inadequate protections” would be “absolutely unacceptable” for the company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The internet giant already offers end-to-end encryption for WhatsApp chats, but it plans to add it to Facebook and Instagram messages later this year.
Only the sender and recipient of communication can read or listen to what is delivered thanks to technology.
However, there are worries that the increased use of encrypted messaging on social media would make it impossible for the police and Meta to keep an eye on hazardous content.
Ms Patel described how these worries were shared by security ministers from the Five Eyes nations of the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in a piece for the Telegraph.
The Home Secretary wrote, “Parents need to know that their children will be safe online.”
It would be terrible if there were insufficient safeguards, particularly for end-to-end encrypted social media networks.
‘A lot of child predators find, target, and sexually assault youngsters via social media platforms like Facebook.
The implementation of end-to-end encryption must wait until these safeguards are in place. Child safety must always come first.
Ms Patel emphasized that cyber security professionals have already outlined a number of precautions that may be taken to lessen the occurrence of child sex abuse online while preserving the privacy advantages of encrypted communications.
She made a point of mentioning how the government had helped with the creation of new technologies to find and deal with dangerous content on encrypted networks.
Additionally, the Home Secretary claimed that it was “logical” to anticipate that internet behemoths like Meta would put their own money “into inventing and testing practical solutions to this challenge.”
The Home Secretary continued, “There is a path ahead.”
It would be wholly unacceptable—indeed, a terrible betrayal—for anyone to claim that this is impossible or that it isn’t that important. It is really important.
Although there are some things that are more important than money, technology corporations really have financial reasons to want the public to believe that their services and products won’t be used to harm children.
“I prefer to work with them to find a solution,” she said. Tragically, some people are capable of depravity beyond comprehension.
“We must all work together to stop them, no matter what it takes.”
We have zero tolerance for child exploitation on our platforms, according to a Meta representative, and we’re focused on finding alternatives to intrusive conversation-scanning technology.
“Rather than just detecting harm after the fact, we aim to stop it from happening in the first place.”
To keep people secure online, “We continue to collaborate with outside experts and law enforcement.”