WhatsApp launched privacy campaign after backlash
WhatsApp launched in the UK its first primary privacy-focused advertising campaign.
This event followed a customer backlash against its changes to the terms and conditions announced this year.
The platform also announced that it is standing against government pressures, including the UK, in terms of compromising on how it encrypts messages.
Authorities have to demand more security instead of less, said the WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart in an interview with BBC.
He said that the first step to keep people safe is to make strong security. He added that governments should support and encourage tech companies to offer more robust protection.
On Monday, the marketing campaign will begin from the UK and Germany and will run internationally.
End-to-end encryption is what WhatsApp uses. It means messages can only be available on the device that receives them and sends one. As a result, WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook can not see or intercept them.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said that end-to-end encryption is not acceptable in fighting against the sharing of illegal content.
In her previous speech in April, she said that she wanted to see it used as consistent with child safety and public protection. However, she did not elaborate on how this strategy might work.
Facebook said that it intends to announce encryption that will move broadly across its other services.
Mainland China has already blocked WhatsApp, and it plans to sue the Indian government because of the new digital rules that forced it to violate its privacy protections. More than 400 million users of WhatsApp are in India.
Mr. Cathcart said that he lives with the reality where more countries could choose to block the platform as regulations tighten around the world.
Terms and conditions confusion
In January, more than a thousand users threatened and decided to leave WhatsApp. They wrongly thought it would start sharing messaging data with Facebook following an announcement about changes to its terms and conditions.
Will Cathcart said that nothing about the privacy of people’s conversations changed in the update.
