WhatsApp and Apple have ‘big moral questions’ to answer over their failure to stop terror plots, security minister says
WHATSAPP and Apple have "big moral questions" to answer over their failure to stop terror plots on their platforms, a security minister has said.
Ben Wallace accused them of carrying out more surveillance on their customers than some governments do on their citizens.
The minister made the comments as part of a BBC investigation 'Inside Out London' - into ISIS' use of encrypted messaging apps.
Undercover reporters were told by Jihadis using encrypted messaging services to attack London Bridge and Westminster - months before the sites were actually attacked.
Mr Wallace said the services can't "have it both ways" by keeping an eye on all the details of customers, while also refusing to release any information to the government in the case of terror attacks.
He said: “They survey my details and your details every minute of the day and many of them sell these details to third parties to make profit.
“They can’t have it both ways and say ‘you know we are anti-surveillance, we are companies that don’t believe in that’ yet at the same time that is how they make their money."
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After the Westminster terror attack it was discovered that the man involved had used WhatsApp minutes beforehand.
In March Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four people and injuring more than 50.
He then got out and stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death outside the Houses of Parliament.
Mr Wallace went on: "There was definitely usage of encrypted communicating between planners and terrorist and people that carried out some of those dreadful attacks.
"That I am afraid is common throughout every one of these incidents and there is also a role of watching videos online to either prepare themselves or train themselves. I think that they are both, I am afraid, current occurrences in these terrorist attacks."
Ministers have urged the tech firms to work with the government to try and access the data and use it to help with police operations.
Amber Rudd blasted the firm for letting them "hide their plotting".
But they have thus far resisted calls to break their encrypted systems.