What is the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill—and why are so many tech companies opposing it?
A political storm in the U.K. is threatening to boil over regarding a bill that claims to protect users from harmful online content, and several tech firms are vowing to stop operating in the country should it pass.
In an open letter published Tuesday, WhatsApp, Signal, and five other apps protested the U.K.’s Online Safety Bill, writing that the legislation “provides no explicit protection for encryption” and could empower the U.K.’s Office of Communication (OFCOM) to proactively read people’s private messages. (OFCOM is the U.K.’s regulatory and competition authority for the broadcast and telecommunications industries.)
“The U.K. Government must urgently rethink the Bill, revising it to encourage companies to offer more privacy and security to its residents, not less,” the companies wrote. “Weakening encryption, undermining privacy, and introducing the mass surveillance of people’s private communications is not the way forward.”
What is the Online Safety Bill and what does it aim to do?
Introduced to the House of Commons in March 2022, after more than five years of delays, the Online Safety Bill seeks to “increase user safety online” and “preserve and enhance freedom of speech online,” according to the legislation.
The bill is also meant to improve law enforcement’s ability to intercept illegal online content. One section would give OFCOM the ability to force companies to scan text messages as well as images, videos, and files with “approved technology” to identify child sexual-abuse material.
Earlier versions of the bill required social media companies to remove all “legal but harmful” content from their sites. After protests decrying free speech violations, that language was removed last November. Instead, the bill instructs social media companies to offer tools that let users filter out content they don’t want to see.
What are opponents to the bill concerned about?
First are foremost: Privacy. The collective’s open letter said the Online Safety Bill “poses an unprecedented threat to the privacy, safety, and security of every U.K. citizen and the people with whom they communicate around the world.” As written, they say, it could break end-to-end encryption and open the door to routine surveillance of personal messages.
While the bill’s backers say it’s possible to surveil messages without breaking end-to-end encryption, tech companies say that’s just wrong.
Opponents also worry that, should the bill become law in the U.K., it could embolden other governments to pass similar legislation.
Which tech companies are opposed to the bill?
Meta-owned WhatsApp is the most visible opponent. It says it would leave the U.K. rather than submit to its terms. “98% of our users are outside the U.K.,” Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp, told the Guardian. “They do not want us to lower the security of the product; and just as a straightforward matter, it would be an odd choice for us to choose to lower the security of the product in a way that would affect those 98% of users.”
Also signing the open letter were officials from Session, Element, Signal, Threema, Viper, and Wire.
Are there other groups opposed?
Some big ones. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been vocal in its opposition, writing in a press release, “If it passes, the censorious, anti-encryption Online Safety Bill won’t just affect the U.K.—it will be a blueprint for repression around the world.” And the tech companies who wrote the open letter pointed out that the United Nations “has warned that the U.K. Government’s efforts to impose backdoor requirements constitute ‘a paradigm shift that raises a host of serious problems with potentially dire consequences’.”
If it’s passed, when is the Online Safety Bill expected to go into effect?
There’s no specific timeline—and the fierce industry opposition could drag things out even further. If (and that’s a big if) it does pass, it could be 2025 or later before it goes into effect.
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