WhatsApp is back in the news for a security related matter but in an unusual way but statements in which they refuse to weaken the security of the service. This is a threat that is not the first time it has hit the media, but it could materialize in the UK if a new reform is launched and it will not only affect WhatsApp: any encrypted communication software is likely to be compromised.

It all depends on the UK’s new online security law, which includes provisions to “weaken” encryption of applications such as WhatsApp. Of course, the excuse is not to spy on their citizens, as they have always liked to do, always in pursuit of security, but to stop some of the crimes that are being committed under the cover of technology. To unnerve the staff, the example was the abuse of minors.

According to authorities, much of the pedophile material that circulates on the Internet actually makes it through communication platforms with end-to-end encryption, the most powerful known. And of course, only by “weakening” this encryption can we fight against this type of crime, which is one of the most rejected in society. In this case, who would not agree to cooperate with such a laudable initiative?

Anyone with half a brain knows about the desire to monitor and control governments around the world, as has been shown since the internet became popular. Ever since Edward Snowsen slapped them in the face with the PRISM scandal, nothing has been the same.

Will Cathcart, CEO of WhatsApp, could not have been more clear when asked by the BBC about the new security law in the UK: they will not compromise the security of the service to please any government. Or what is the same, it will not “weaken” the encryption in favor of intervention by the authorities. But for a simple reason, that’s why I put this term in quotes: how do you plan to do it?

Of the parties that push for it, and there are more besides the government, no one knows or dares to say how they would do it. Not to mention, this isn’t the first time governments halfway around the world have shared the same desire to crack encryption and spy on everything that moves. In this case, the stated intent would be to scan people’s private WhatsApp messages for pedophile material, but how?

According to Cathcart’s statements, it is understood that it would be an implementation of some method that would do this client-side scanning, the only possible one, because only the sender and the sender see the content of the conversation in end-to-end encrypted services. “Client-side scanning may not work in practice,” Cathcart says, without elaborating.

Until now, all the official initiatives that have taken place along these lines, i.e. breaking the encryption of communication tools, have revolved around introducing backdoors into the code and sharing them with governments, but at least on paper, developers have always refused due to the potential security risks involved (without we would go further, the exploitation of these vulnerabilities by cybercriminals), let alone the discovery of the pie.

However, the complete response of the CEO of WhatsApp is not at all optimistic for the users of the application and their rights: «YesIf we had to lower the security of the world to meet the requirements in one country, that would be stupid to accept and our product would be less desirable to 98% of our users because of the 2% requirements.says Cathcart, who says he is willing to exit the UK market before that happens.

Would they dare so much? What if the United States does the same? Would they leave it out too? And Europe? Then it would no longer be 2% of WhatsApp’s user base, but much more. Would “weakening” WhatsApp’s encryption be enough for multiple governments to claim it? It should be recalled that WhatsApp is owned by Facebook (Meta) and we already know how Mark Zuckerberg’s company spends it in terms of respecting the privacy of its users, among other things.