British home secretary leads fight against Meta’s end-to-end encryption that shields child abusers

08/08/2023 / By Laura Harris

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman is at the forefront of an international alliance to stop Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms from making end-to-end encryption default for its Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct chats.

While end-to-end encryption helps secure user privacy, it prevents law enforcement agencies from tracking communications related to criminal activities. Pedophiles and other criminals can operate with relative impunity, given that Meta or any other company cannot access private conversations. The Menlo Park, California-based tech giant plans to launch this feature later in 2023.

In light of the issue, Braverman reached out to different government officials – including U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – to seek support and advance the campaign. Five Eyes security partners, including Australia and New Zealand, have also backed the campaign. The members of the collective – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. – have expressed alarm over the the potential implications of end-to-end encryption on protecting children. (Related: Leaked documents: Socialist Spain wants the EU to ban all end-to-end encryption.)

“Meta’s introduction of end-to-end encryption without the safeguards which are currently in place will provide an online haven for pedophiles, organized criminals and fraudsters. It’s crucial for the safety of our children and citizens that they think again,” a source from within Downing Street said.

“The whole of [the British] government is clear about the terrible threat that this poses and the home secretary and security minister are pushing hard to drive this message home to Meta. There will be no let-up.”

According to POLITICO, the European Union being the largest host of child pornography alarmed top officials from both Washington and London. Facebook and Instagram are required under U.S. law at present to to scan all messages for suspected child abuse content and report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. But Meta allowing end-to-end encryption on its platforms will make cracking down on child sexual abuse more difficult for law enforcement.

EU official: Child porn often circulates on Meta apps

In 2022, tech companies made over 32 million referrals regarding suspected child abuse cases – with more than 26 million cases on Facebook and Instagram. These referrals helped in arresting around 800 suspected pedophiles in the U.K. alone, and have safeguarded up to 1,200 children every month.

Ylva Johansson, the European Commission’s Home Affairs Commissioner, told POLITICO that she had warned Facebook’s Nick Clegg about the potential consequences of end-to-end encryption. She urged the former British lawmaker in charge of overseeing Brexit to retain photo-detection to identify and flag child pornography.

According to her, Meta’s messaging applications such as Messenger and Whatsapp serve as hubs for child pornography and grooming.

“The problem is that many of these communications are now being end-to-end encrypted,” Johansson remarked. “We don’t want pedophiles to be able to do whatever they want, to not be seen. We have to protect [children] so this is not an easy challenge to tackle.”

Rob Jones, director-general of operations at the British National Crime Agency (NCA), emphasized the importance of Meta’s cooperation in fighting against child abuse. He said the tech giant provides 25 percent of all the online child abuse referrals the NCA acts on, adding that the agency’s “ability to act is based on these referrals.”

Jones warned that end-to-end encryption would dim the spotlight on online child abuse, thereby impeding efforts to rescue children and arrest offenders. He concluded: “Slowly but surely, 25 years of insight into online child abuse will be killed.”

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Watch cybersecurity and tech expert Rob Braxman discussing how Apple has a backdoor to bypass encryption below.

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