Children’s organizations ask Facebook messages not to encrypt e2e
More than 100 children’s organizations have written a letter asking Facebook to reconsider its decision to encrypt Facebook services. Facebook wants to provide Messenger and Instagram Direct with e2e encryption, but the children’s organizations fear for the safety of children.
According to the open letter, seen by the BBC, among others, the encryption ensures that child abusers have ‘a place to hide’. In their letter, the organizations ask Facebook if the company wants to stop the plans to roll out the encryption until “sufficient safety nets” are in place. The children’s organizations do not say what safeguards these should be.
The organizations point out that Facebook could actually improve the detection of abusers, but instead “blinds itself.” The organizations believe that Facebook should not put financial gain or design choices before the safety of children. The organizations are led by the British institution The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
Facebook says in a response to the British public broadcaster that the safety of children is of critical importance. The company says it is collaborating with child safety experts and “being at the forefront” when it comes to protecting children from exploitation. In 2018, Facebook is said to have forwarded 16.8 million indications of child abuse to the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). This would have led to 2,500 arrests. NCMEC expects the implementation of e2e encryption could lead to a 70 percent reduction in Facebook prompts. After all, Facebook itself can no longer read the messages after encryption.
It is unknown when the end-to-end encryption will be available. A Facebook programmer said last month that the Messenger implementation could take “years.” Mark Zuckerberg promised the encryption in March last year, to make Facebook more privacy-friendly. The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have previously objected to Facebook’s encryption plans.