BBC reports that Apple may remove its messaging and calling services, iMessage and Facetime, from the UK if the country’s politicians vote through an update to the law called the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016.
The proposed update in the UK legislation includes giving the country’s authorities access to backdoors in messaging services to investigate whether messages sent contain illegal material. Many messaging services currently use end-to-end encryption, which means that not even the companies behind the services can see what is sent via them, ensuring users’ privacy and right to private communication.
Apple rejects the idea of building in backdoors, thus compromising both the privacy and security of its services.
Signal and Meta’s WhatsApp, two other popular messaging services that use end-to-end encryption, also oppose the British law proposal, as reported by BBC. Below is a news segment from BBC News where they discuss this matter further.
