Key Takeaways:
The European Parliament on Thursday renewed a law allowing tech platforms to scan private messages for child abuse material until April 2028, after 314 lawmakers — 47 short of the 361 needed — failed to block it.
"The fact that Chat Control is moving forward against the will of the majority of voting MEPs is a farce and damages democracy," said Patrick Breyer, a former MEP and digital rights campaigner who has tracked the file for years.
The vote on Regulation (EU) 2021/1232, known as Chat Control 1.0, saw 276 MEPs support the measure and 17 abstain. Because the file was in its second reading, opponents needed an absolute majority of all 720 MEPs — not just those present — to block it. The European People's Party, the Parliament's largest group, revived the measure after lawmakers rejected an extension in March by 311 to 228. An urgency procedure on July 7 brought the file back, passing 331 to 304.
The law authorizes voluntary scanning of unencrypted messages on services including Gmail, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and Skype using perceptual hash-matching, AI image classification and text-based grooming detection. An amendment exempting end-to-end encrypted communications — covering WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage — passed alongside the main text, handing a partial win to privacy advocates. The amended text now returns to the Council of the EU, which has three months to accept or reject the exemption.
The outcome closes a three-month gap created when the previous derogation expired on April 3 after Parliament's March rejection. Since then, platforms had been operating without a specific legal basis for voluntary scanning. The EPP, led by Manfred Weber, pushed for the urgency procedure to restore the Commission's original, unrestricted text after amendments introduced by the Socialist rapporteur narrowed the March version's scope.
The law's supporters argue it is vital for protecting children. Four European Commissioners wrote to MEPs ahead of the vote, saying that disrupting detection "seriously weakens our collective ability to identify abuse, support victims, and stop offenders." The EPP's public position was direct: "We cannot accept this legal vacuum."
Accuracy Data Undermines Justification
Critics point to official data questioning the system's effectiveness. A European Commission evaluation found that just 0.00000077 percent of messages scanned across the EU actually contained illegal material. Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office reported that 48 percent of all Chat Control intelligence alerts it receives are not criminally relevant, and that 40 percent of resulting investigations target minors themselves rather than adult offenders. The Commission's own implementation report found that AI-based classifiers for previously unseen material produced false positive rates as high as 20 percent — meaning one in five flagged conversations was not actual abuse material.
Breyer, citing the same official data, noted that approximately 99 percent of reports generated by Meta consist of previously known material that does little to identify ongoing abuse. The Council of the EU's own Legal Service issued an opinion stating that the regulation as written is incompatible with Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which guarantees respect for private communications — a finding that legal observers expect will be challenged before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Chat Control 2.0 Looms as the Bigger Fight
The temporary extension runs until April 3, 2028, but the permanent regulation — the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation, or Chat Control 2.0 — remains under negotiation. Five trilogue rounds between Parliament, Council and Commission have failed to produce a deal, with the fifth collapsing in June over the question of suspicionless scanning. The sixth round is expected under the Irish Presidency in September.
The permanent law's most contested provision would require even end-to-end encrypted platforms to scan messages through client-side scanning technology — a method that cybersecurity researchers including Prof. Bart Preneel of KU Leuven and Prof. Carmela Troncoso of the Max Planck Institute have warned exhibits "unacceptably high error rates." Digital rights advocates argue that restoring Chat Control 1.0 has removed the Council's primary incentive to compromise on the permanent regulation.
"Finding a majority for permanent, suspicionless mass scanning in future negotiations is a complete pipe dream," Breyer said. Negotiations resume in September, with lawmakers disputing whether scanning should be targeted at specific individuals under judicial authorization or applied broadly.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
