It’s free, it’s fast, and it’s one of the most popular smartphone apps ever - but WhatsApp could soon be BANNED under strict new laws on social media and online messaging services.
Yikes.
The government’s controversial Draft Communications Data Bill, which could be passed as early as this autumn, aims to ban people from sending any kind of encrypted messages.
This means that online messaging services would still be allowed to operate, but not using encrypted data.
If services such as WhatsApp, iMessage, and Snapchat continue to use encrypted messaging, they will be banned completely.
Apple and Facebook would also have to, under the so-called Snooper’s Charter law, maintain records of all online communications for 12 months - including tweets, Facebook updates and any private messages sent via social networking apps.
These would then be put into a database, so that the UK police and government could read them whenever they require.
Speaking about the law earlier this year, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which we cannot read?
"My answer to that question is: 'No, we must not’.”
He added: "We have always been able, on the authority of the Home Secretary, to sign a warrant and intercept a phone call, a mobile phone call or other media communications.
“But the question we must ask ourselves is whether, as technology develops, we are content to leave a safe space – a new means of communication – for terrorists to communicate with each other.”
The Conservative party have pushed the law forward after the recent spate of terror attacks across Europe, including in Tunisia and France.
However some have slammed the Snooper’s Charter law as a breach of privacy.
Do you think the police and government should have access to our private messages?