UK defends plan to demand access to encrypted messages

British technology minister Michelle Donelan defended plans to require messaging apps to provide access to encrypted private messages when needed to protect children from abuse, which major platforms say would undermine the privacy of their users.
Donelan told the BBC that the government was not against encryption, and the access would only be requested as a last resort, under Britain’s Online Safety Bill which is expected to become law later this year.
Meta-owned WhatsApp, Signal and other messaging apps have opposed the plan, arguing that the law could give an “unelected official the power to weaken the privacy of billions of people around the world”.
The dispute is part of a wider debate between large tech companies, which say they are protecting free speech, and governments which say they are defending citizens from harmful content online.