WhatsApp is an online communications technology offering almost instantaneous contact across the globe and also end-to- end encryption. There are millions of users worldwide.
WhatsApp itself only stores communication for a limited period though messages are stored on the internal memory of individual mobile phones / other devices.
Companies such as WhatsApp have raised concerns that the government's ONLINE SAFETY BILL - (currently at Committee Stage in the House of Lords) - will compromise end-to-end encryption and they have threatened to withdraw the service from the UK if the Bill becomes law.
Encryption plays a critical role in protecting day-to-day digital activities like online banking, shopping, preventing theft of sensitive information in data breaches, and making sure private messages stay private. Of course, encryption also makes the medium attractive to individuals engaged in nefarious activities including online child abuse.
Naturally enough, government Ministers and officials have used WhatsApp extensively. After all, it is easier to dash off a hasty text message than to write a memo, have a formal conversation, or attend a minuted meeting..
In May 2021, Prime Minister Johnson announced a UK Covid-19 Inquiry. Baroness Heather Hallett, a retired Court of Appeal judge, was appointed as Inquiry Chair. Very wide Terms of reference were agreed and published. The Inquiry came into being on 28 June 2022 and operates under the Inquiries Act 2005.
The terms of reference include examination of 'how decisions were made, communicated, recorded, and implemented; ...'
The Act, section 21, empowers the Chairman to require a person to attend (a) to give evidence; (b) to produce any documents in his custody or under his control that relate to a matter in question at the inquiry; (c) to produce any other thing in his custody or under his control for inspection, examination or testing by or on behalf of the inquiry panel.
Section 35 states that -