Signal threatens to shut app in Britain over Online Safety Bill

THE encrypted messaging app Signal has threatened to shut down its service in Britain if the Government’s controversial Online Safety Bill forces it to violate users’ privacy.

Signal, which has around 40m active users worldwide, would “pull out of the UK” if the Bill goes ahead in its current form, according to Meredith Whittaker, the company’s president.

Critics claim that the Online Safety Bill, the Government’s flagship internet regulation law, would force companies to break their own encryption so users’ messages can be read.

When asked if the Bill would jeopardise Signal’s ability to keep its users safe, Ms Whittaker said: “If the choice were between operating in the UK, while undermining our privacy promises, or pulling out of the UK, we would pull out of the UK.”

Ms Whittaker described the Government’s plans as “magical thinking” and said: “You can have as many working groups and as many exploratory research grants as you want. It’s never going to make two plus two equal five.”

Signal and rival service Whatsapp use end-to-end encryption, which means only the sender and receiver of a message can read its contents.

This helps protect messages from hackers, business rivals and hostile foreign governments.

It also means police and other law enforcement bodies such as the National Crime Agency cannot break into suspects’ conversations and digitally eavesdrop on them to gather evidence. Alan Woodward, a professor of computing at the University of Surrey, said: “By causing certain vendors to withdraw from the UK, the Government could actually make the UK less safe for everyone.”

Opponents of encryption, including the Home Office, say that it provides a safe haven for criminals to hide their illicit activities from police.

Jake Moore, antivirus company ESET’S global cyber security adviser and a former constable with Devon and Cornwall Police’s cyber crimes unit, said: “Making ways to scan encrypted messages may sound like the best way to safeguard people but doing so will unfortunately give different bad actors [new] entry points.”

The Online Safety Bill is passing through Parliament. A Home Office spokesman claimed it does not represent a ban on end-to-end encryption, adding that the draft law’s wording only forces tech companies to break their encryption when “technically feasible”.

Privacy advocates say that once a digital “master key” is cut to unlock end-to-end encryption for police, technically adept hackers can copy that master key to gain the same level of access to everyone’s messages.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Tech companies must ensure their platforms do not become a breeding ground for paedophiles. It is not a choice between privacy or child safety – we can and we must have both.”