Tech giants ‘putting profit before safety with end-to-end encryption’

FACEBOOK and other tech giants are putting ‘profit before safety’ by introducing end-to-end encryption on messaging platforms, warned the head of the National Crime Agency.

Graeme Biggar said US firms such as Meta – the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – have ‘consciously blinded themselves’ to serious crimes.

At a meeting in London, he and 32 European police chiefs called on the tech industry and governments to find a solution which allows continuing access to data about crimes by law enforcers.

Meta’s decision to automatically encrypt all Facebook and Messenger chats will stop police from investigating and preventing the most serious crimes such as child sexual abuse, human trafficking, drug smuggling, murder and terrorism offences.

The NCA, Britain’s FBI, arrests around 800 suspected paedophiles and safeguards 1,200 children a month, largely as a result of information from Meta about abuses on its platforms.

But director general Mr Biggar fears arrest levels will plummet due to Meta’s decision to encrypt messages and calls so they can be read only by the sender and recipient.

‘These are the biggest companies in the world,’ he said. ‘They know that as a result people are less safe.’

Catherine de Bolle, executive director of Europol, which fights serious and organised crime in the EU, likened the move to ‘sending your child into a room full of strangers and locking the door’.

It means Meta will no longer be able to detect child abuse on its platforms. The NCA said police will lose around 92 per cent of the reports they get from Facebook and 85 per cent from Instagram.

A Meta spokesman said it has ‘spent five years developing robust safety measures to prevent and combat abuse while maintaining online security’. He added that the company will continue to provide reports to law enforcement.