Chat Control approved. Certain EU countries can see your private messages. Are you on the list?

After three years of squabbles in the European Parliament, EU governments finally agreed to a compromise agreed On a controversial new bill that provides a backdoor for reading text messages or viewing photos on private individual phones to fight child sexual abuse material online. Critics have called it “Chat Control” claiming that it poses a grave threat to privacy.

It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. European law Officially, it is called the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation. Its most controversial part would let companies scan private messages through a kind of tech backdoor into your phone – even on apps with strong end-to-end encryption like Signal or WhatsApp, in order to look for illegal pictures and videos.

This scanning was supposed to be mandatory for many years. This scanning was introduced in early November 2025The Danish government, however, amended the text to say that scanning is now “voluntary”, and up to the individual EU member states. The 27 EU nations agreed on the 26th of November with this small change.

Why many people do not celebrate?

Experts in privacy and scientists agree that voluntary scanning does not solve the problem. Even if companies are not forced to scan chats, they can be compelled to do so to avoid being fined or blocked by the EU. More than 100 scientists sent a letter to the EU a few days before voting. open letter The new version of the app still poses a high risk to privacy, safety, and free expression.

What does the new law do?

• It is important that every messaging and cloud service checks its platform to see if it can be misused.
• Some services that are deemed “high risk” may need to use or develop scanning tools.
• Unknown to us, a new EU agency will be in charge of overseeing everything and deciding who does what.

Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard welcomed The deal says that it forces companies to stop the spread child abuse material.

Online, however, there are many who are furious. One user posted on the Hacker News tech forum that “Today, the Danish government has turned the EU into an surveillance machine.” I’m not certain we can go back.”

What will happen next?

The EU government will now negotiate with the European Parliament the final text. The “trilogue” talks will determine whether the law is made stricter, softer, or remains the same.

Privacy campaigners The European Parliament is urging its citizens to reach out to their MEPs, and to ask them for strong encryption of private communication.

For millions of Europeans the question is clear: can we stop online child abuse without turning all phones into surveillance devices? The answer coming from Brussels is worrying at the moment.

Tech giants, including Meta, Apple, Google and Signal, as well as encrypted email provider Tuta claim that this compromises end to end encryption and allows for broader monitoring.

Core concern: Platforms now must assess misuse risks and deploy “appropriate measures”, including AI-driven scanning for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). Although it’s not compulsory, experts believe that fines and bans may make it mandatory. “This isn’t protection – it’s a loophole for mass scanning,” said Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, in a recent statement.

According to the United Nations, there are several countries that will introduce chat control on a voluntary basis. flightchatcontrol.es.

Supporting countries for Chat Control include:

Spain, Portugal Malta Lithuania, Hungary Ireland, France Denmark Croatia Cyprus and Bulgaria

Undecided countries:

Belgium, Greece Italy, Latvia, Slovakia and Sweden

Countries that oppose chat control:

Slovenia, Poland, Luxembourg and Germany are all part of the Czech Republic.