EU Advances Chat Control Surveillance Legislation Behind Closed Doors
Tags Consumer · Infrastructure
The European Union is advancing its Chat Control proposal — which would mandate client-side scanning of encrypted communications for illegal content — through backroom negotiations, according to German MEP Patrick Breyer. The legislation would require messaging platforms to scan all private messages before encryption, effectively breaking end-to-end encryption for EU citizens. The proposal has sparked a relaunch of the fightchatcontrol.eu campaign. Digital rights organizations argue the scanning technology constitutes mass surveillance and cannot be implemented without undermining the security of all users. The legislation is advancing despite previous rejections by the European Parliament.
Technical significance
If enacted, this legislation would require fundamental changes to how encrypted messaging platforms operate in the EU, potentially forcing companies to either break encryption or exit the EU market. The client-side scanning technology required has been shown by researchers to have high false-positive rates and to create new attack surfaces.