The head of WhatsApp has thrown down the gauntlet over the UK government’s plans to ban end-to-end encryption.

The government’s long-awaited Online Safety Bill is expected to make a return to the commons later this year and – if it passes into law – would grant the government and regulator Ofcom significant new powers to require effective content moderation.

Expanding on the government’s 2016 investigatory powers act, the new bill could force encrypted messaging services like Meta-owned WhatsApp to enact moderation policies which could only be adhered to with the removal of end-to-end encryption.

Will Cathcart, head of Meta-owned WhatsApp, has said the chat app would refuse to remove end-to-end encryption, meaning it could face fines of up to four per cent of its parent company Meta’s annual turnover.

Cathcart is currently visiting the UK to discuss the bill with Ofcom, which he described it as the “most concerning piece of legislation” currently being discussed in the western world.

He added that there would be no way to change Whatsapp’s inherently secure nature in just one part of the world, and noted that some countries, such as Iran, had chosen to outright ban the messaging service.

“But we’ve never seen a liberal democracy do that,” he added.

Meredith Whittaker, president of the messaging app Signal, has taken a similar stance on encryption.

In a recent blog post, she wrote: “The provisions in the Online Safety Bill are poised to eviscerate privacy while opening new vectors for exploitation that threaten the safety and security of everyone in the UK.”

She added: “We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that people in the UK have access to Signal and to private communications.”

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