Signal, the encrypted messaging app, has said it would exit the United Kingdom if a major piece of internet regulation set to be passed in the country compromises its ability to offer end-to-end encryption to its users.
The Online Safety Bill, initially introduced to the UK Parliament by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is presently undergoing parliamentary proceedings. The government has claimed that its proposal does not intend to prohibit end-to-end encryption.
Former Google employee and current Signal President Meredith Whittaker, known for her extreme leftist views O’Reilly/YouTube
Critics have voiced concerns that Ofcom, the UK’s internet regulator, could oblige firms to scrutinize messages on encrypted applications for terrorist or child sexual abuse materials as part of the new legislation.
The bill is also controversial for its promotion of censorship. It has repeatedly been held up and amended in Parliament as proponents and opponents of censorship go back and forth. Recently, feminists in Parliament have pushed for the bill to include a ban on “online misogyny.”
Signal president and former FTC employee Meredith Whittaker, known for her far-left activism, said the encrypted app would pull out of the UK if encryption was compromised.
Saying Signal would “absolutely, 100% walk” if the bill undermined end-to-end encryption, Whittaker told the BBC it was “magical thinking” that you could have encryption “only for the good guys.”
“Encryption is either protecting everyone or it is broken for everyone.”
WhatsApp, the instant messaging application owned by Facebook, has also warned the UK government not to undermine encryption, saying it would not weaken security for any government.
“If we had to lower security for the world, to accommodate the requirement in one country, that…would be very foolish for us to accept, making our product less desirable to 98% of our users because of the requirements from 2%,” said WhatsApp head Will Cathcart in comments to the BBC last year.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.