A government-backed campaign has stepped up the pressure on plans by Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Messenger and Instagram apps to introduce end-to-end encryption, warning that millions of cases of child sex abuse could go undetected. The new campaign warns that social media companies are “willingly blindfolding” themselves to abuse if they implement end-to-end encryption for private messaging. The campaign has been launched by abuse survivors, child safety campaigners and charities including Barnardo’s and is funded by the Home Office. I have a right to privacy as a survivor of child sexual abuse. According to NCMEC, 70% of referrals by Meta platforms could be lost under end-to-end encryption, the equivalent of 14m reports.

Source: The Guardian January 18, 2022 13:25 UTC