WhatsApp: We won't lower security for any government

"If we had to lower security for the world, to accommodate the requirement in one country, that...would be very foolish for us to accept, making our product less desirable to 98% of our users because of the requirements from 2%," Mr Cathcart told BBC News.

The EU Commission has said technology companies should "detect, report, block and remove" child sex abuse images from their platforms.

"What's being proposed is that we - either directly or indirectly through software - read everyone's messages," Mr Cathcart said. "I don't think people want that." read more