The U.K. Parliament is pushing ahead with a sprawling internet regulation bill that will, among other things, undermine the privacy of people around the world. The Online Safety Bill, now at the final stage before passage in the House of Lords, gives the British government the ability to force backdoors into messaging services, which will destroy end-to-end encryption. No amendments have been accepted that would mitigate the bill’s most dangerous elements. If it passes, the Online Safety Bill will be a huge step backwards for global privacy, and democracy itself.
I get the importance, but the global implications are being slightly overstated. It may be the thin end of the wedge in terms that it may lead other governments to follow suit. But all that will happen in the short term is that many IM clients will withdraw from the UK. Apple will probably just disable iMessage in the UK.