Apple has criticized powers in the Online Safety Act that could be used to force encrypted messaging tools like iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal to scan messages for child abuse material.
Her intervention comes as 80 organizations and technical experts have written to Technology Minister Chloe Smith urging her to rethink the mandate.
Apple said the law should be amended to protect encryption.
The government says companies must prevent child abuse on their platforms.
End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) stops a message from being read by both the sender and the recipient.
Police, government and some high-profile child protection charities maintain the technology — used in apps like WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage — that prevents law enforcement and companies themselves from identifying the sharing of child sexual abuse material.
But in a statement, Apple said: “End-to-end encryption is a critical capability that protects the privacy of journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats.
It also helps ordinary citizens defend themselves from surveillance, identity theft, fraud, and data breaches. The Online Safety Act poses a serious threat to this protection, and could put UK citizens at greater risk.
“Apple urges the government to amend the law to protect strong end-to-end encryption for the benefit of all.”
But the government said that “companies should only implement end-to-end encryption if they can simultaneously prevent hateful sexual abuse of children on their platforms.”
“We will continue to work with them to find solutions to combat the spread of child sexual abuse material while preserving user privacy.”
The Online Safety Bill, which is currently passing Parliament, contains powers that could enable communications regulator Ofcom to direct platforms to use approved technology to scan the contents of messages.
The government said those powers would only be used “as a last resort, and only when strict privacy safeguards have been met.”
Recently, Home Office ministers have been highly critical of Facebook’s rollout of messaging technology.
Several messaging platforms, including Signal and WhatsApp, have previously told the media that they would refuse to impair the privacy of their encrypted messaging systems if directed to do so.
Signal said in February that it would “exit” the UK if it was forced to weaken the privacy of its encrypted messaging app.
Apple’s statement now means that some of the most widely used encrypted apps are against that part of the bill.
The government argues that it is possible to provide technical solutions that mean the contents of encrypted messages can be scanned for child abuse material.
Many technology experts argue that the only way to do this is to install software that checks messages on the phone or computer before they are sent, something called client-side scanning.
Critics say this would fundamentally undermine the privacy of the messages.
In 2021, Apple announced plans to scan photographs on people’s iPhones for offensive content before they were uploaded to iCloud but was abandoned after a backlash. It has now clearly indicated its opposition to any measure that compromises the privacy of end-to-end encryption.
“routine check”
Its announcement comes as digital civil liberties campaigners The Open Rights Group sent an open letter to Minister Chloe Smith.
The letter, signed by more than 80 national and international civil society organisations, academics and internet experts, says: “The UK could become the first liberal democracy to require routine screening of people’s private chat messages, including chats that are ultimately secured with end-to-end encryption.
“With more than 40 million British citizens and 2 billion people worldwide relying on these services, this poses a significant risk to the security of digital communications services, not only in the UK, but also internationally.”
Element, a British technology company whose products are used by the government and military and whose E2EE products are used by government and military customers, has previously told the BBC that actions in the bill seen as weakening the privacy of encrypted messages would make customers less confident in the products. Security produced by British companies.
The BBC has learned there is growing expectation that changes could be made to a part of the bill that critics say could be used to scrutinize authorization. It could be included in a modification package that will be revealed in the coming days.
But it is not clear what the specifics of these changes are, or whether they will satisfy activists’ concerns.
