WhatsApp has published an open letter warning that the UK government’s upcoming Online Safety Bill could lead to tech firms being forced to "break end-to-end encryption" on private messaging apps.

The letter, co-signed by executives at WhatsApp, Signal, Element, Wire, Viber, Threema, and OPTF/Session, hits back at the upcoming Online Safety Bill, claiming the law could lead to “indiscriminate surveillance” of personal messages friends, employees, executives, journalists, human rights activists, and politicians.

A government official told the BBC that the legislation "in no way represents a ban on end-to-end encryption" and does not require apps to weaken encryption.

"We support strong encryption, but this cannot come at the cost of public safety," they said. "Tech companies have a moral duty to ensure they are not blinding themselves and law enforcement to the unprecedented levels of child sexual abuse on their platforms."

But WhatsApp says that the Bill does not deliver any explicit protection for encryption and could allow Ofcom to force the “proactive scanning of private messages on end-to-end encrypted communication services".

The Meta-owned platform also points out that messaging services are not the only organisations concerned about the bill, citing the UN, which said that the government’s plans to roll out backdoor requirements will lead to “a paradigm shift that raises a host of serious problems with potentially dire consequences”.

The long-awaited Bill, which is currently at committee stage following its second reading in the House of Lords, also includes tougher rules for bosses of social media platforms running user-generated content, who could face up to two years in prison for failing to protect children online.

Under the new rules, Ofcom will also have the power to fine companies failing to comply up to ten per cent of their annual global turnover, force them to improve their practices, and block non-compliant sites.

In the first 14 weeks after the authority’s powers kick in, it plans to kick start the first phase of the regulation, which is protecting users from illegal content harms, including child sexual exploitation and abuse, and terrorist content.

"The UK Government must urgently rethink the Bill, revising it to encourage companies to offer more privacy and security to its residents, not less," wrote WhatsApp. "Weakening encryption, undermining privacy, and introducing the mass surveillance of people’s private communications is not the way forward."

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