GETTY Sheryl Sandberg said encrypting WhatsApp would play into the terrorists' hands

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WhatsApp messaging was used by Khalid Masood minutes before he ploughed his car into crowds on the bridge and tried to storm Parliament. Five people were killed in the atrocity on March 22. It led to calls for Facebook to ditch its sophisticated encryption, which prevents police from seeing the messages WhatsApp users are sending to each other. But Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, said such a move would play into the terrorists’ hands.

The goal for governments is to get as much information as possible, and so when there are message services like WhatsApp that are encrypted the message itself is encrypted but the metadata is not. Meaning that when you send me a message we don’t know wh Sheryl Sandberg

She told Desert Island Discs: “The goal for governments is to get as much information as possible, and so when there are message services like WhatsApp that are encrypted the message itself is encrypted but the metadata is not. Meaning that when you send me a message we don’t know what that message says but we know that you contacted me. “If people move off those encrypted services and go to encrypted services in countries that won’t share the metadata the government actually has less information, not more. And so as technology evolves these are complicated conversations. We are in close conversations working through the issues all around the world.” Facebook is one of a number of social media sites which has faced criticism for not doing more to stop online extremism, but Sandberg told Radio 4 that an online army of more than 7,000 people is being recruited to crack down on terrorists using the site. She revealed that 4,500 people were already working around the clock to stop extremists hijacking the site, and thousands more were being hired later this year.

GETTY Ms Sandberg revealed that 4,500 people were working to stop extremists hijacking the site

In addition it is harnessing artificial intelligence to stop extreme messages before they are even posted. In June Ms Sandberg met with Home Secretary Amber Rudd to discuss what the tech sector is doing to stem the spread of hate online. Ms Sandberg said: “We are very aligned in our goals. We want to make sure all of us do our part to stop terrorism. Our Facebook policies are very clear. There is absolutely no place for terrorism, hate or calls for violence of any kind. Our goal is to not just pull it off Facebook but to use artificial intelligence technology to get it before it is even uploaded. “We are working in collaboration with other tech companies now so if a video is uploaded to any of our platforms we are able to fingerprint it for all the others so they can’t move from platform to platform. “Technology is a very important part of the puzzle. So we have about 4,500 people in our community operations working around the world in many languages, 24 hours, and this year alone we are going to hire another 3,000. “We have worked with over 500 non-government organisations around the world to develop the messages that go against terrorist recruitment, that are the messages of tolerance.” Ms Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008 after advising the US Treasury and worked as vice president of global online sales at Google. The mother-of-two has fought to promote women in business and chose Who Run The World (Girls) by Beyonce as one of her tracks.

GETTY Ms Sandberg met with Amber Rudd to discuss what the tech sector is doing

The author of Lean In: Women, Work And The Will To Lead, lost her husband Dave Goldberg in 2015 when he was 47, and has spoken about the issue of single parenting. She told Kirsty Young she felt it was important for girls to be taught from childhood that they could succeed. She said: “We need leaders of all types and I really believe leadership is something we can develop in anyone. What I really believe is that we start telling little girls not to lead at very young ages and we start telling little boys to lead at very young ages and I think that’s a mistake. “I think everyone has inside them the ability to lead.

GETTY Ms Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008