Nations unite against Facebook over encryption plans ‘that endanger children’

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has been warned ‘there will be no let-up’ amid international fears about the technology’s use by pedophiles and other criminals.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook referred 21 million messages to the US authorities last year for suspected child abuse. Picture: Getty Images

Britain’s home secretary has been building an international alliance to take on Facebook over its plans to introduce default end-to-end encryption for its messaging apps.

Suella Braverman has warned Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, that “there will be no let-up” amid fears about the technology’s use by pedophiles and other criminals.

End-to-end encryption stops anyone but the sender and recipient of a message seeing it, meaning the companies cannot police the content, making it an ideal tool for criminals. Meta will introduce it on Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct chats this year.

Braverman spoke last week to Alejandro Mayorkas, the US homeland security secretary, to enlist his support for the campaign, which has the backing of Britain’s Five Eyes security partners, including Australia and New Zealand.

A government source said: “Meta’s introduction of end-to-end encryption without the safeguards which are currently in place will provide an online haven for pedophiles, organised criminals and fraudsters. It’s crucial for the safety of our children and citizens that they think again. The whole of 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.”

Meta scans all messages on its platforms and is obliged by US law to report any suspected child abuse activity, including obscene images, to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Of the 32 million referrals made by tech companies last year, more than 21 million came from Facebook and just over five million were from Instagram.

Leads that might involve offences committed in the UK are passed to the National Crime Agency and then to police forces. Content from Facebook and Instagram is one of the biggest sources of evidence for British police, who arrest about 800 suspected pedophiles a month. The evidence collected helps to protect up to 1200 children each month. Crime agencies say that end-to-end encryption would severely hamper this.

Rob Jones, director-general of operations at the NCA, said: “The continuing rollout of privacy-enhancing technologies like end-to-end encryption means that the light that has been shone on child abuse on the internet will be switched off.

Pedophiles regularly use Facebook Messenger and Instagram chats to identify potential victims. Picture: NCA Newswire/Nicholas Eager

“Slowly but surely, 25 years of insight into online child abuse will be killed. And that insight, day on day, results in children being rescued and people who are involved in child abuse being arrested. It’s as simple as that.

“The relationship with Meta is vital to UK law enforcement. They provide 25 per cent of all the referrals in relation to online child abuse that we act on in the UK. These figures represent children that are at risk and offenders trying to abuse children. Our ability to act is based on these referrals.”

Meta has been under increasing pressure to compete with its newer encrypted messenger rivals, such as Telegram and Signal, particularly in the US.

In the wake of the Capitol riot in January 2021, when Donald Trump supporters stormed Congress, tens of millions of people switched to more secure messaging apps. They were reacting to tech giants, including Facebook and Twitter, removing thousands of right-wing and far-right accounts, including Trump’s.

In the UK last month, Apple became the latest organisation to criticise powers in the Online Safety Bill that could be used to force encrypted messaging tools, such as iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal, to scan messages for child abuse. Privacy campaigners and tech firms argue the system is needed to protect personal privacy and data security.

Crime agencies say end-to-end encryption would severely hamper the exposure of child abuse via the internet.

Pedophiles regularly use Facebook Messenger and Instagram chats to identify potential victims, often by posing as teenagers. Jordan Croft, jailed for 26 years last November after abusing girls as young as 12, is believed to have targeted some of his victims through Facebook and Instagram.

Croft, 26, later ordered them to switch to Telegram, an encrypted app, where he blackmailed the girls into sending him images and videos carrying out sexually degrading acts on themselves and others.

Meta said: “The overwhelming majority of Brits already rely on apps that use encryption. We don’t think people want us reading their private messages, so have developed safety measures that prevent, detect and allow us to take action against this heinous abuse, while maintaining online privacy and security … We remain committed to working with law enforcement and child safety experts to ensure that our platforms are safe for young people.”

Meta restricts adults from sending private messages to teenagers who do not follow them, and finds and removes suspicious accounts using machine-learning technology.

The Times