WhatsApp is taking on the UK government about privacy and encryption

Head of WhatsApp messaging service Will Cathcart has made his way to the UK to try and argue against a government bill that could target privacy online.

The bill has endured even in the extreme mess that British politics has become in the last few years, and it attempts to encompass multiple methods to stop harmful content on social media. It also wishes to hold big tech companies accountable for the content on their sites.

Where Cathcart's worries come in is where the bill demands that companies use "accredited technology" to identify child abuse content being sent publicly and privately on their platforms. Cathcart claims this tech simply does not exist, meaning the only way to comply with the law would be to break end-to-end encryption.

This would lead to a few companies walking rather than breaking their encryption, which would endanger the privacy of their users.

What do you think?

Thanks, Wired.