Facebook accused of ‘prioritising the privacy of paedophiles’ as social network announces controversial change

ONLINE safety campaigners have blasted Facebook for “prioritising the privacy of paedophiles” after it made a controversial change.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has announced it is rolling out default end-to-end encryption for personal messages and calls on its main social media site as well as Messenger.

Loredana Crisan, Head of Messenger, announcing the move, said: “We take our responsibility to protect your messages seriously and we’re thrilled that after years of investment and testing, we’re able to launch a safer, more secure and private service.”

Ms Crisan added: “We’ve introduced new privacy, safety and control features along the way like delivery controls that let people choose who can message them, as well as app lock, alongside existing safety features like report, block and message requests.”

End-to-end encryption means that only the sender and receiver can see or read what was sent or read, while Facebook will no long be able to scan for child sexual abuse taking place on their platforms.

The move has been slammed by campaigners who say the move effectively “rolls out the welcome mat for paedophiles”.

Susie Hargreaves OBE, chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, said: “We are outraged Meta has chosen to prioritise the privacy of paedophiles over the safety of our children. We strongly urge other platforms not to follow this dreadful example.

“This catastrophic decision to encrypt messaging services, without demonstrating how protection for children won’t be weakened, will lead to at least 21million reports of child sexual abuse going undetected.

“Meta is effectively rolling out the welcome mat for paedophiles.

“The company has a strong track record in detecting large amounts of child sexual abuse material before it appears on its platforms.

“We urge Meta to continue this vital protection. We know it already has taken steps to prevent malware within WhatsApp, an end-to-end encrypted messaging environment, so why can’t it use the same technology to do the same for child sexual abuse?

“What will Meta’s bosses say to children who have suffered sexual abuse, whose trauma will be compounded by their decision not to preserve their privacy? How will they justify turning a blind eye to this illegal and harmful content being spread via their platforms?

“It is now up to Ofcom to show its teeth and demonstrate it is serious about protecting the privacy and safety of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Sir Peter Wanless, the chief executive of the NSPCC.

He said: “By starting to roll out end-to-end encryption on their services, Meta are choosing to turn a blind eye to crimes against children we know to be proliferating on their platforms.

“Where is their duty of care to children in taking this step? Without telling us how they will spot such activity in future, we can only conclude they are happy to allow groomers to exploit young people at will on their services, instead of enabling abusers to be spotted and punished.

“This flies in the face of the priority the public attaches to basic child safety online.

“Our research shows almost three quarters of the UK public (73 per cent) believe there should be a legal duty on tech firms to have the ability to scan private messaging for child sexual abuse activity and material.

“Until Ofcom has the power to compel tech platforms to tackle child sexual abuse and uphold the safety and privacy rights of all users in end-to-end encrypted environments, we are at a huge risk of the online world becoming not less but more dangerous for children and young people.”

Recent data collected by the NSPCC shows that Meta-owned products were used in almost half – 47 per cent - of all sexual communication with a child recorded last year.

A Meta spokesperson said: “Encryption helps keep people safe from hackers, fraudsters and criminals.

“We don’t think people want us reading their private messages so have developed robust safety measures to prevent, detect and combat abuse while maintaining online security.

“Our recently detailed these measures, such as restricting over 19s from messaging teens who don’t follow them and using technology to identify and take action against malicious behaviour.

“As we roll out end-to-end encryption, we expect to continue providing more reports to law enforcement than our peers due to our industry leading work on keeping people safe.”