Recently, Facebook tested “end-to-end” encryption as the default setting for Messenger chats and plans to encrypt all chats and calls on the platform by 2023. In response, British Home Secretary Priti Patel said in an op-ed this week that it would be a “ridiculous betrayal” if the company introduced “end-to-end” encryption without considering the privacy and safety of children. “.
End-to-end encryption is understood to be a method of secure communication that ensures that only users who participate in a chat can see the content of their messages. Meta has been trying to add the feature to Messenger for years. The announcement comes on the heels of Facebook’s beta test of “end-to-end” encryption after an outcry over its provision of Facebook messages and activity information about abortion victims to police.
Patel wrote in the article that unscrupulous individuals are using social media platforms such as Facebook to spread images of naked or abused children, and that law enforcement needs access to the information to identify children in the images and protect them from further harm.
