WhatsApp, Signal, and other messaging apps have released a joint letter criticizing the U.K. government's proposed Online Safety Bill.
The companies claim that this proposed bill would risk citizens' privacy rights.
- While the U.K. government claims that the legislation aims to tackle online abuse, the companies have stated their concern that if this bill is approved, fundamental digital privacy rights would be threatened.
- According to the letter, having the ability to read personal messages would be government overreach, essentially making end-to-end encryption useless.
- Signal and WhatsApp even threatened to withdraw from the U.K. if this bill is implemented.
- The letter was signed by representatives from the following companies:
- WhatsApp,
- Signal,
- Viber,
- Threema,
- Element, etc.
- WhatsApp is currently banned in China, North Korea, Syria, Qatar, and the UAE.
- In China, the app is blocked because Meta did not give the Chinese government permission to access conversations.
