London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Sep 13, 2025

Priti Patel v Facebook is the latest in a 30-year fight over encryption

Priti Patel v Facebook is the latest in a 30-year fight over encryption

Governments have been clashing with tech companies for decades over user privacy
Priti Patel has stepped up an international campaign to force Facebook to reverse its plans to merge its messaging apps and encrypt all communications between users, arguing such plans make it harder to safeguard children. But despite the intensity of the home secretary’s call for action, there’s little new ground broken in the encryption wars.

“We cannot allow a situation where law enforcement’s ability to tackle abhorrent criminal acts and protect victims is severely hampered,” Patel told an event organised by the NSPCC children’s charity on Monday afternoon. “Simply removing accounts from platforms is nowhere near enough.”

Her comments are the latest push in a fight that goes back almost 30 years. The broad issue is the same as ever: governments and law enforcement are worried about what is being said on communications platforms they cannot easily monitor, while technology companies argue that the nature of encryption means they have to provide privacy for everyone or no one.

This time, though, the territory is slightly different. Facebook’s decision in 2020 to begin merging its various messaging platforms has added a sense of urgency. The move, which started when Messenger and Instagram merged in August, will eventually put those two platforms and WhatsApp all on the same network, with all chats being encrypted between them.

In a statement, Facebook said: “Child exploitation has no place on our platforms and Facebook will continue to lead the industry in developing new ways to prevent, detect and respond to abuse. End-to-end encryption is already the leading security technology used by many services to keep people safe from hackers and criminals. Its full rollout on our messaging services is a long term project and we are building strong safety measures into our plans.”

Hard as it is to convince technology companies to turn off encryption, it may be somewhat easier to convince them not to turn it on in the first place. And the NSPCC hopes that that conversation will be more successful if it avoids the same mistakes its precursors took. “We want to move away from this being seen as a vexing unresolvable tradeoff of an argument that pits the needs and the wishes of adults against those of children,” says Andy Burrows, the head of the charity’s Online Harms project. “What we want to move towards is a reset that results in a settlement that can balance the privacy and safety needs of all users.”

What that settlement would look like is unclear. The government has not repeated last decade’s calls to push for a law-enforcement-only backdoor into encrypted messaging apps, after such a demand was roundly rejected by an industry as technologically impossible. (The nature of end-to-end encryption, which prevents anyone but the sender and recipient from reading communications, is such that any backdoor would work not just for police but for anyone else who discovered it, from hackers to foreign intelligence agencies.)

Instead, the UK government and others have focused on their goals, rather than demanding specific methods to achieve them. “During my own recent discussions with my counterparts in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, we were absolutely united and calling upon the industry to ensure that services are safe by design,” Patel said. “Companies themselves should do more, and can do more, to endorse and transparently implement the CFAA voluntary principles on child sexual abuse,” she added, referring to the new set of guidelines published last year by the five countries calling for better protection of children online.

However, Jim Killock, the executive director of the Open Rights Group, still sees the calls as “a kind of solutionism: people picking a particular way of solving a problem and saying: ‘This is how we must do things, this is the only way that we can deliver this result, it has to be this way.’”

“It is clear,” Killock adds, “that the privacy and security of both children and adults is served by security technologies including end-to-end encryption. So the question is: are there other ways to deal with the very real issues around circulation of child abuse material?”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
The German Owner of Politico Mathias Döpfner Eyes Further U.S. Media Expansion After Axel Springer Restructuring
Suspect Arrested: Utah Man in Custody for Charlie Kirk’s Fatal Shooting
In a politically motivated trial: Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years for Plotting Coup After 2022 Defeat
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
×