Snapchat and WhatsApp might be banned in Great Britain if Prime Minister David Cameron has anything to do with it. Cameron said that he would pursue banning encrypted messaging services if Britain’s intelligence services were not given access to the communications.
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The call for technology companies to cooperate with investigations is nothing new: there have already been calls by European politicians for Google and Facebook to provide greater information about people’s online activities. Following the recent attacks in Paris, France, European leaders called on Internet service providers to report potentially harmful online material aimed at inciting hatred or terror.
Cameron said he would ban encrypted online communication tools that could potentially be used by terrorists if the country’s intelligence agencies were not given increased access.
“Are we going to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read?”, the British leader said at an event on Monday, in reference to services like WhatsApp, Snapchat and other encrypted online applications. “My answer to that question is: No, we must not.”
Read more: WhatsApp bulks up its Android encryption efforts
The UK has made similar threats before. In November, it blamed Facebook of failing to tell the country’s authorities about specific online threats made by two men, who later killed a soldier in London in 2013.
“We are concerned at the increasingly frequent use of the Internet to fuel hatred and violence and signal our determination to ensure that the Internet is not abused to this end,” European Union politicians said in a joint statement.
Cameron said his first duty was to protect the country against terrorist attacks.
“The attacks in Paris demonstrated the scale of the threat that we face and the need to have robust powers through our intelligence and security agencies in order to keep our people safe,” he said.
The Tory Prime Minister did not explain how the UK government would go about banning Snapchat and WhatsApp and it remains unclear how the British government will ban them. According to 2013 research by mobile marketing magazine, WhatsApp was used by 49% of the country’s population, a number which has likely grown significantly. Worldwide, WhatsApp has 700-million monthly active users, with some 30-billion messages sent every day.
Privacy groups have criticised attempts to limit the use of privacy tools in the name of security. Stating that much of the tools are used by people in oppressed countries and victims of crime to stay safe.
WhatsApp introduced more encryption for messages sent on it and now it appears that move will be futile. Both Snapchat and WhatsApp are yet to respond to Cameron.
