The boss of WhatsApp has warned the app could be banned in the UK due to the upcoming Online Safety Bill.
Will Cathcart, head of the app, said he rather British users were stopped from using WhatsApp than allow the Government required it to impinge on their privacy. The company said they would not comply if the new Online Safety Bill forced it to scan messages for child abuse material, the BBC reported.
The messaging app uses encryption to ensure that even it cannot read users' messages.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman trial updates as jury told of moment mum realised Olivia Pratt-Korbel had been shot
Mr Cathcart said: "Our users all around the world want security - 98% of our users are outside the UK, they do not want us to lower the security of the product. We've recently been blocked in Iran, for example. We've never seen a liberal democracy do that.
"We won't lower the security of WhatsApp. We have never done that - and we have accepted being blocked in other parts of the world.
"When a liberal democracy says, 'Is it OK to scan everyone's private communication for illegal content?' that emboldens countries around the world that have very different definitions of illegal content to propose the same thing."
He added: "If companies installed software onto people's phones and computers to scan the content of their communications against a list of illegal content, what happens when other countries show up and give a different list of illegal content?"
The Online Safety Bill has been working its way through Parliament since being published in draft form in May 2021. It is designed to help clamp down on online trolling and illegal forms of pornography by placing more responsibility on the platforms that internet users use.
In January, Wikipedia warned that the Bill could end up limiting freedom of expression.
READ NEXT
Man, 44, dies on Jet2 flight after crew declares emergency
The quaint town John Bishop calls home
Family heartbreak as dad died hours after his daughter's funeral
Argos selling 'small but mighty' £60 dehumidifier shoppers say 'works a treat'
