Uk government prepares to launch anti-encryption campaign to "keep children safe online"

The UK government is reportedly preparing a propaganda offensive against end-to-end encryption in an attempt to mobilize public opinion against the technology by chalking it up to child safety issues, the main purpose of which is to undermine Facebook's plans to encrypt its Messenger platform end-to-end.

Pictured here is the UK Family Office responsible for protecting children

According to Rolling Stone magazine, the Home Office hired M&C Saatchi advertising agency to plan the event, which included a media war for TV commercials, a campaign by British charities and law enforcement agencies calling attention to tech companies, and scheduling multiple real-world stunts, some of which were meant to "upset" the public.

According to documents reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, as part of a propaganda campaign, one of the performances was to place adults and children (both actors) in a glass box, and when the glass turned black, the adults looked at the children "intentionally". Multiple sources confirmed that the campaign will begin this month, and privacy groups are already planning a counter-attack.

The UK government's anti-crypto stance is not new, but its latest efforts focus on the argument that improving crypto would hinder efforts to address child abuses. Speaking to Rolling Stone, a Home Office spokesperson said: "We have asked M&C Saatchi to bring together many organizations that share our concern about the impact of end-to-end encryption on our ability to keep children safe. "

In a presentation produced by the UK government to recruit potential nonprofit alliance partners, a slide noted that most members of the public had never heard of end-to-end encryption, meaning "people are easily shaken" on this issue. Shockingly, the slide also notes that the event "must not begin a privacy and security debate."

According to a letter from the Home Office in response to a freedom of information request, the UK government has allocated £534,000 ($730,500) of public funds for the campaign.

Facebook, which recently changed its name to "Meta," has postponed plans to use end-to-end encryption for Messenger and Instagram messages until at least 2023, a year behind previous plans. Meta said the postponement was to give it more time to coordinate with experts in the fight against online infringement, while also protecting user privacy.

Messaging platforms such as Signal, Telegram, Facebook's WhatsApp, and Apple's iMessage all use end-to-end encryption to prevent communications between senders and recipients from being accessed by anyone else, including service providers. Security experts have long argued that weakening the encryption system of such platforms would mean weakening the security of all.

Meta and Apple have long opposed anti-crypto legislation and attempts to weaken encryption on platforms and devices. In 2019, Meta successfully challenged a court order that forced it to decrypt Facebook Messenger's phone. The order is the result of an investigation into the activities of the MS-13 gang on Facebook Messenger in California.

Apple's most public battle with the U.S. government took place in 2016, when Apple was ordered to help the FBI unlock an iPhone owned by Saeed Farouq, one of the gunmen in the December 2015 San Bernardino attack.

Apple opposed the order, claiming it would set a "dangerous precedent" with serious implications for the future of smartphone encryption. Apple eventually stuck to its ground, and the U.S. government backed down after finding an alternative way to access the device, but Apple still had to deal with further enforcement efforts to crack down on encryption.