“The UK could become the first liberal democracy to require the routine scanning of people’s private chat messages, including chats that are secured by end-to-end encryption.”
The Online Safety Bill lets Ofcom order platforms to scan message contents with “accredited technology.” The government says that is a last resort. The only way to do it is client-side scanning, the same plan Apple floated in 2021 and dropped after a backlash. Now Apple, Signal and WhatsApp all oppose it, and the Home Office still insists the math will bend.