In one of the campaign ads, a couple is seen exchanging WhatsApp messages while at dinner with talkative friends [Source: WhatsApp]
WhatsApp has launched its first major privacy-focused advertising campaign in the UK.
It follows a customer backlash against changes to its terms and conditions, announced earlier this year.
The platform also said it is standing firm against pressure from governments, including the UK, to compromise on the way that it encrypts messages.
Authorities should “demand more security” rather than less, WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart told the BBC.
“The first step of keeping people safe is, you have to have strong security, and we think governments shouldn’t be out there trying to encourage tech companies to offer weak security,” he said.
“They should be out there trying to encourage or even mandate that companies offer the strongest security possible.”
The marketing campaign is set to run internationally, beginning in the UK and Germany on Monday.
WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, which means messages can only be read on the device which sends one and the device which receives it. WhatsApp itself – and by default its parent company Facebook – cannot view or intercept them, and neither can law enforcement.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has described the use of end-to-end encryption as “not acceptable” in the fight against the sharing of illegal content.
In a speech in April said she wanted to see it used “in a way in which is also consistent with public protection and child safety” but did not elaborate on how this might work.
