Social media giants, Facebook and WhatsApp might be forced to share the encrypted message on their platform to the British police after the new treaty between the two countries according to a person informed about the matter.
According to the new accords which are going to be signed next month, the social media firms will share information to help with the investigation of serious criminal offenses including pedophilia and terrorism. By getting details from the social media platform, the intelligence authorities can determine the threat and stop them without causing any hard to citizens. One of the main issues of providing information to any authority can be a misuse of information. That is why a valid request is important to get access to any kind of information.
According to the UK’s home secretary, Priti Patel already warned about the end to end encryption services from social media services will only help criminals to avoid getting caught. She also called on social media firms that they should develop a back door to the messaging platform for the intelligence agencies.
Facebook said in a statement that they will oppose the attempts of the government to build backdoors to the social media platforms. This is to protect the privacy of people and ensure their safety online. The Cloud Act is one of the policies from the Government which allows the government to get information from social media if a valid legal request is provided. This way the companies do not have to build back doors.
According to the deal, the US and UK will not look into the details of each other’s citizen which is an important part of the deal. The information provided by the British firm in the cases with the death penalty cannot be used by the US.