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James Babbage, Director General for Threats at the National Crime Agency, said:

It is hugely disappointing that Meta is choosing to roll out end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger. They have an important responsibility to keep children safe on their platform and sadly, this will no longer be possible.

Today our role in protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation just got harder.

For years Meta has supported law enforcement by identifying and reporting instances of child sexual abuse to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the US, as they are obliged to do under US law.

NCA officers and our partners in policing work day in day out to analyse these reports and progress investigations. Together, we are safeguarding 1,200 children and arresting around 800 suspects every single month.

Unfortunately, this important work is now at risk. As a result of Metas design choices, the company will no longer be able to see the offending occurring on their messaging platform, and law enforcement will no longer be able to obtain this evidence from them.

This problem wont go away; if anything it will likely get worse. Offenders will still use Facebook Messenger to send illegal material, and will use the vast quantity of data shared on the platform about children to select and groom future victims.

The alternative safety measures developed by the company relying on metadata alone will rarely, if ever, produce sufficient evidence for a search warrant. This means that in practice, the volumes will be so great that they are likely to be of very little value.

The onus should not be entirely on children to report abuse.

The NCA, with our partners in the UK and overseas, will continue to do everything in our power, to safeguard children and identify offenders.

Notes to editors:

Read the original here:
NCA response to Meta's rollout of end-to-end-encryption - National Crime Agency