WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart has warned that plans to change rules around encryption in the UK’s upcoming Online Safety Bill could threaten the security of government communications.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said that there are other ways to protect children on the messaging platforms that don’t involve undermining its existing technology.

“If the UK decides that it is okay for a government to get rid of encryption, there are governments all around the world that will do exactly the same thing,” Cathcart told the newspaper on Thursday.

Citing Hong Kong as an example, he added: “Where liberal democracy is not as strong, where there are different concerns that really implicate deep-seated human rights.”

The new bill is expected to come into force early next year.

Cathcart’s comments follow a recent study by BCS, the Chartered Institute of IT, which found that 46 per cent of IT professionals believe the bill is unworkable, while the rest are unsure.

In the same survey, 51 per cent of more than 1,300 respondents said the bill would not make it safer to be online.

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