The EU’s ‘Chat Control’ regulation, initially approved in 2021, allows tech companies to scan private messages for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This regulation, which has been extended until April 2028, aims to combat the alarming rise in online abuse reports, which surged from one million in 2010 to over 23 million in 2025.
However, the current framework does not apply to end-to-end encrypted services like WhatsApp and Signal, where only the sender and receiver can access messages. The EU is now considering ‘Chat Control 2.0’, which would mandate all platforms, including encrypted ones, to scan private conversations. This raises significant privacy concerns.
Critics argue that scanning encrypted messages could violate EU laws, including the e-Privacy Directive and GDPR, which protect user privacy. As negotiations for the new regulation resume in September, the implications for user data privacy and the balance between safety and surveillance will be hotly debated.
The outcome of these discussions could reshape how digital communication is monitored in Europe, potentially affecting millions of users and altering the landscape of online privacy and security.
Source: Euronews
