Last week, Facebook finally made end-to-end encryption the default privacy setting for all Facebook Messenger users after years of promising the technology. And while some civil rights groups like the ACLU have praised Facebook’s dedication to encryption for protecting against cyberattacks, censorship, and surveillance, advocates for child safety say it could help shield abusers.

These groups, along with many law enforcement officials, have warned Facebook for years that encryption will make it more difficult to detect child abuse content. And while the social media giant has promised it has safeguards in place to detect predatory accounts, at least one prominent advocacy organization is predicting a disastrous decline in abuse content being reported.

“Encryption on platforms without the ability to detect known child sexual abuse material and create actionable reports will immediately cripple online child protection as we know it,” said a spokesperson for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “NCMEC anticipates the number of reports of suspected child sexual abuse from the larger reporting companies will plummet by close to 80%.”

Despite these warnings, Facebook clearly believes it has the capability to both protect users’ communications and catch predators. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope the company is right.

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