EU Parliament Ends ‘Chat Control’ With Razor-Thin Majority
With a razor-thin majority of one vote, European lawmakers rejected both the automated scanning of unknown messages and proposals allowing voluntary implementation.
With a razor-thin majority of one vote, European lawmakers rejected both the automated scanning of unknown messages and proposals allowing voluntary implementation.
The European Parliament on Thursday voted to end the mass surveillance of private messages, known as ‘Chat Control,’ a measure widely criticized for violating digital privacy and failing to protect children.
With a razor-thin majority of one vote, lawmakers rejected both the automated scanning of unknown images and texts and the amended proposals allowing voluntary implementation. As of April 4, tech giants such as Meta, Google, and Microsoft must cease indiscriminate monitoring of European citizens’ private chats.
Supporters of digital freedom celebrated the outcome. Patrick Breyer, former MEP and privacy advocate, called it a “massive, hard-fought victory for the unprecedented resistance of civil society,” emphasizing that freeing investigators from millions of irrelevant reports allows them to focus on genuine criminal threats. Breyer criticized mass surveillance as ineffective:
Trying to protect children with mass surveillance is like desperately trying to mop up the floor while leaving the faucet running.
The technical and legal flaws of Chat Control, which will remain in place until April 3, are evident. Algorithms like PhotoDNA, used for detecting illegal content, are highly error-prone. Innocent users may be flagged, while criminals can bypass detection with minimal modifications to content. Reports show that nearly half of scanned chats are irrelevant, with minors disproportionately affected.
The voluntary system also creates legal loopholes, allowing companies to perform quasi-police functions without judicial oversight.
Critics of mass surveillance tools warn, however, that even after this victory, digital freedoms remain under pressure. Trilogue negotiations for a permanent Chat Control 2.0 are ongoing, and proposals for mandatory age verification could require users to submit ID or facial scans, effectively ending anonymous communication.
Ultimately, Chat Control appears to be less about child safety and more about expanding control over digital communications. Chat Control was initially pitched as a tool to fight online child abuse, requiring messaging platforms—such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and Messenger—to automatically scan all messages, images, and videos for illegal content.
However, the proposal immediately faced strong opposition, with thousands of lawyers, engineers, and MEPs warning that it infringed on privacy rights, the presumption of innocence, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights’ principle of proportionality.
