Priti Patel issues Facebook and Instagram owner with encypted messaging warning

Priti Patel has warned of a ‘grotesque betrayal’ if Facebook‘s owner pushes ahead with encrypted messaging without making provisions to tackle child sex abuse.

The Home Secretary claimed it would be ‘completely unacceptable’ for Meta – who own Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – to roll out end-to-end encryption across all its platforms with ‘inadequate protections’.

The tech giant already offers encypted messaging on WhatsApp, but is aiming to extend end-to-end encryption to Facebook and Instagram messages next year.

The technology ensures only the sender and recipient of a message can read or listen to what is sent.

But there are fears that the wider use of encrypted messaging on social media will prevent both the police and Meta themselves from being able to monitor harmful content.

Priti Patel revealed how concerns were shared among security ministers from the Five Eyes countries of the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Meta already offers encypted messaging on WhatsApp, but is aiming to extend end-to-end encryption to Facebook and Instagram messages next year

The tech giant has been told it would be ‘completely unacceptable’ to roll out end-to-end encryption across all its platforms with ‘inadequate protections’

Writing in the Telegraph, Ms Patel revealed how such concerns were shared among security ministers from the Five Eyes countries of the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

‘Parents need to know that their kids will be safe online,’ the Home Secretary wrote.

‘The consequences of inadequate protections – especially for end-to-end encrypted social media platforms – would be catastrophic.

‘A great many child predators use social media platforms such as Facebook to discover, target and sexually abuse children.

‘These protections need to be in place before end-to-end encryption is rolled out around the world. Child safety must never be an afterthought.’

Ms Patel pointed to how cyber security experts had already set out a range of safeguarding options that could be used to reduce the prevalence of child sex abuse online, while also maintaing the privacy benefits of encrypted messaging.

She noted how the Government had supported the development of new tools to detect and address harmful content on encrypted networks.

The Home Secretary also insisted it was ‘reasonable’ to expect internet giants such as Meta to invest their own cash ‘into developing and testing workable solutions to this problem’.

‘A way forward can be found,’ the Home Secretary added.

‘It would be completely unacceptable – indeed a grotesque betrayal – for anyone to say this is all too difficult or that it doesn’t really matter. It matters enormously.

‘But while some things are more important than profits, it is actually in the financial interests of technology companies that the public should have confidence that their products and services will not be used to hurt children.

‘It is my preference to work with them to find a way forward. It is a tragic fact of life that some people are capable of depravity beyond imagining. 

‘We must all work together to do whatever it takes to stop them.’

A Meta spokesman said: ‘We have no tolerance for child exploitation on our platforms and are focused on solutions that do not require the intrusive scanning of people’s private conversations.

‘We want to prevent harm from happening in the first place, not just detect it after the fact.

‘We continue to work with outside experts and law enforcement to help keep people safe online.’