WhatsApp launched a campaign to highlight its end-to-end encryption capabilities, which a representative of parent company Facebook told Mobile World Live (MWL) aimed to showcase its ability to protect user privacy following resistance to a recent policy update.

The company told MWL it commenced its first international marketing campaign today (14 June) in the UK and Germany to present the benefits of encrypted communication.

As part of the move, WhatsApp will showcase the importance of privately communicating and offer assurances messages cannot be read by it or Facebook.

The move follows a backlash to the policy change from users and some governments: India was particularly vocal in its opposition, believing it was an attempt to share private data with Facebook.

WhatsApp’s campaign also appears to address recent concerns raised by a number of officials, including UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, over its ability to combat online child abuse if the social media giant moves forward with a plan to add encryption to all of its messaging services, including Facebook Messenger and Instagram.

Head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart explained the company believed “people have a right to communicate without companies or third parties listening in and we want everyone to know the lengths WhatsApp goes to protect their private messages”.