Priti Patel v Facebook is the latest in a 30-year fight over encryption

Governments have been clashing with tech companies for decades over user privacy

Priti Patel has stepped up an international campaign to force Facebook to reverse its plans to merge its messaging apps and encrypt all communications between users, arguing such plans make it harder to safeguard children. But despite the intensity of the home secretary's call for action, there's little new ground broken in the encryption wars.

We cannot allow a situation where law enforcement's ability to tackle abhorrent criminal acts and protect victims is severely hampered," Patel told an event organised by the NSPCC children's charity on Monday afternoon. Simply removing accounts from platforms is nowhere near enough."