UK DMCS tells messaging apps not to use e2e encryption for minors' accounts

The UK Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport published guidance on August 6, 2026, telling messaging apps to prevent the use of end-to-end encryption on child accounts, stating in a section entitled protect children by limiting functionality that private channels should prevent end-to-end encryption for child accounts and that end-to-end encryption could be a risk to users in general because it makes it more difficult to identify illegal and harmful content occurring on private channels. Although not yet official legislation, the Online Safety Bill published in May includes points to impose a legal duty on apps to protect users from harmful content.

Blanket measures that remove encryption for an entire age cohort create a structural privacy burden for compliant young users while displacing offenders to unmonitored channels and requiring every minor to prove their age. The Guardii platform detects grooming, sextortion, CSAM and coercion in direct-message conversations in real time without requiring providers to weaken end-to-end encryption, reporting the shape and seriousness of a conversation rather than accessing plaintext content. Its detection modules identify threat patterns including sustained targeting, escalation signals and age-inappropriate contact across encrypted platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox, blocking or flagging hostile contact before it reaches the target and enabling rapid escalation to the right authority when a child is in danger.