Chat Control: Is the EU About to Dismantle the Privacy of Our Communications?

Imagine a world where every message, every photo, every email you send is systematically opened and analysed by a machine before it reaches its recipient. This intrusion into your privacy, justified by the hunt for a tiny minority of illicit content, is the very essence of the European Union’s “Chat Control” project.

Under the official name Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse, the European Commission has put forward a proposal that forces us to make a societal choice. It pits a universally praised objective—child protection—against the fundamental principles of privacy and freedom of expression that form the foundation of our democracies.

Behind the noble intent hides a mechanism of mass surveillance, legally questionable, technically flawed, and socially corrosive. In its attempt to do good, the European Union risks creating a dangerous precedent that could irreversibly alter the European digital landscape.

The “Chat Control” Project: What Is It About?

The project, more formally known as the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR), has been nicknamed “Chat Control 2.0” by critics. This label follows a temporary derogation (“Chat Control 1.0”) which already allowed platforms to voluntarily scan communications. The difference is crucial: the new regulation seeks to make this practice mandatory and generalized.

At the core of the proposal lies a mechanism called a “detection order.” It would allow an authority to compel service providers such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Gmail, or Telegram to scan the entirety of communications of all their users. The goal: to detect child abuse material and conversations resembling “grooming” (the solicitation of children for sexual purposes). To coordinate this surveillance, the proposal includes the creation of a dedicated EU Centre.

This represents a fundamental shift. Until now, surveillance was targeted and exceptional, justified by suspicions about a specific individual and authorized by a judge. Chat Control inverts this logic: surveillance becomes generalized and preventive, applied by default to hundreds of millions of citizens, without any suspicion.

A Threat to Our Freedoms and Security

The Chat Control project collides directly with the legal foundations of the European Union and the technologies that safeguard our digital lives.

The proposal clashes head-on with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which guarantees privacy and data protection. The EU Council’s own Legal Service warned of a “serious risk” of violating “the very essence” of the right to privacy. The highest data protection authorities (the EDPS and the EDPB) concluded that the project would lead to “de facto generalized and indiscriminate surveillance.”

Under European law, any interference with fundamental rights must be necessary and proportionate. Yet the collateral damage to the privacy of 450 million citizens is immense and unjustified compared to the expected benefit, especially since less intrusive measures—like strengthening targeted investigations—have not been fully explored.

The Myth of “Secure” Scanning

To circumvent end-to-end encryption—the technology that protects our conversations like a sealed envelope—the project relies on a method called Client-Side Scanning. The idea is to analyse your messages on your own device before they are encrypted and sent.

The global cybersecurity community is unanimous: this technology is a Pandora’s box. It amounts to installing “government-mandated spyware” on every device. Once such a backdoor exists, it could be exploited by criminals or hostile states, making everyone less safe.

Moreover, these scanning tools are known for their high error rates. They often flag innocent content—family photos, medical images—as suspicious. This flood of “false positives” would drown law enforcement in useless reports and subject innocent citizens to traumatic investigations. Meanwhile, determined criminals would easily bypass these systems by using other tools, rendering the measure largely ineffective against its main targets.

A Fractured European Debate

The radical nature of the proposal has sparked deep divisions within European institutions and unprecedented mobilization.

In the EU Council, the project is at a deadlock. A “blocking minority” led by countries like Germany and Austria firmly opposes the text. The European Parliament, for its part, voted to remove mass scanning and return to targeted, judge-authorized surveillance.

Outside the institutions, an exceptionally broad coalition has risen against the project. It includes digital rights organizations (such as EDRi and its “Stop Scanning Me” campaign), providers of secure messaging services (the Signal Foundation has threatened to leave the EU), hundreds of scientists and cybersecurity experts, and even some child protection organizations that consider the measure ineffective and counterproductive.

Conclusion: Time to Choose

The Chat Control project is not a surgical tool to protect children, but a mass surveillance instrument—ineffective and dangerous—that violates the principles on which the European Union was built.

The real choice is not between child protection and privacy. That is a false dilemma.

The true choice is between continuing with targeted, rights-respecting strategies, or adopting a system that will weaken everyone’s security for a hypothetical benefit.

The European Union stands at a crossroads. The path it chooses will define the nature of digital freedom for generations to come. It will decide whether Europe remains a stronghold of rights protection or yields to security temptations, offering authoritarian regimes around the world a surveillance model to emulate.

In a digital landscape where each new regulation redraws the boundaries of law, Vanbelle Law Boutique positions itself as a vital strategic partner. Our expertise goes beyond traditional legal support and spans the entire technology law ecosystem: from GDPR compliance to AI regulation, through cybersecurity and intellectual asset protection. We help our clients—whether innovative start-ups or established groups—navigate this complexity, anticipate risks, and turn regulatory constraints into competitive advantages. Protecting your interests and defending your rights in the digital age is not just our profession—it is our commitment.