WhatsApp and Signal threaten to cut off users in the UK due to new law

Chat apps WhatsApp and Signal are at risk of going black in the United Kingdom as a result of a new law that requires chat apps to scan chats for child abuse material. WhatsApp and Signal say they would rather leave the UK than comply with the new law.

WhatsApp and Signal argue according to Politico that it is impossible to scan for child abuse material without breaking the chat apps’ end-to-end encryption. According to British politicians, this is possible and the chat apps must therefore comply with the law.

The chat apps said last month that they were protesting against the new law. This was done with an open letter to the British government and other governments. “In short, the bill poses an unprecedented threat to the privacy, safety and security of every citizen of the United Kingdom and the people they communicate with. It emboldens other hostile governments who may also try to make similar laws.” The letter was signed by executives from WhatsApp, Session, Signal, Element, Threema, Viber and Wire.

The chat services see end-to-end encryption as a crucial element of their chat apps and refuse to break it to scan for child abuse material. Apple tried to put a system in iOS 15 with a scan on the phone itself, but withdrew that plan after a lot of internal and external criticism of the plan. Many chat platforms use end-to-end encryption to secure chats, so that people can communicate safely with each other.

The basis of Apple Private Set Intersection, the technology that the company wants to use to scan images