The head of WhatsApp has said the popular messaging app could see itself no longer being allowed in the UK.
Messages on the app can only be read by the sender and receiver, but the new Online Safety Bill could allow authorities to check messages for 'illegal' content, according to WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart.
Cathcart says if the UK Government forced WhatsApp to weaken end-to-end encryption - which protects messages from being spied on - the company would refuse and could leave the UK entirely, The Mirror reports.
He 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 won't lower the security of WhatsApp. We have never done that—and we have accepted being blocked in other parts of the world."
WhatsApp competitor app Signal has also called out the UK government for the controversial new bill and stated it "poised to undermine encryption and create a regime of mass surveillance".
However, the UK Government has denied the claims it wants to ban end-to-end encryption.
The government told the BBC : "The Online Safety Bill does not represent a ban on end-to-end encryption. It is not a choice between privacy or child safety—we can and we must have both."
But the Information Commissioner's Office has announced that measures to weaken encryption are necessary for the greater good.
It said: "Where less intrusive measures are available, they should be used," and added that it supports "technological solutions that facilitate the detection of illegal content without undermining privacy protections for everyone."
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