Meta-owned WhatsApp reportedly joined a legal challenge against the U.K. government’s demand that Apple allow it access to the company’s encrypted customer data.
WhatsApp is supporting two cases — one brought by Apple and another brought by two human rights campaign groups — by submitting evidence that the government’s order would harm the encryption technology used by messaging apps and digital storage services, the Financial Times (FT) reported Wednesday (June 11).
“WhatsApp would challenge any law or government request that seeks to weaken the encryption of our services and will continue to stand up for people’s right to a private conversation online,” Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Meta, said in the report.
The order was delivered in January by the U.K. Home Office under the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Act, according to the report.
Apple responded by withdrawing the online backup service targeted by the order, iCloud Advanced Data Protection, from the U.K. It also launched its legal challenge, the report said.
Two human rights campaign groups — Privacy International and Liberty — filed a separate legal action in March. They filed their case at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which investigates complaints against U.K. security services, per the report.
A WhatsApp spokesperson told the FT that the company has not received an order like that delivered to Apple. WhatsApp has said in the past that it would respond to any threat to its encryption by withdrawing from the U.K.
It was reported in March that a London court hearing related to Apple’s appeal against the order took place behind closed doors, with the media barred from attending and neither Apple nor the U.K. government publicly confirming the existence of the order.
The U.K.’s Home Office remained silent on the specifics of the case, and when questioned in parliament, Security Minister Dan Jarvis refused to confirm or deny the existence of the order. Jarvis did assert, however, that privacy and security are not mutually exclusive and that it is possible to maintain both.
Authorities argue that strong encryption can impede investigations into serious crimes such as terrorism and child exploitation.
In April, it was reported that the Investigatory Powers Tribunal confirmed that Apple is contesting the order and rejected a request from the U.K. Home Office to keep details of the case confidential.