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The controversial mass surveillance of private messages in Europe is coming to an end. After the European Parliament had already rejected the indiscriminate and blanket Chat Control by US tech companies on 13 March, conservative forces attempted a democratically highly questionable maneuver yesterday to force a repeat vote to extend the law anyway.
However, in a true voting thriller today, the Parliament finally pulled the plug on this surveillance mania: With a razor-thin majority of just a single vote, the Parliament first rejected the automated assessment of unknown private photos and chat texts as “suspicious” or “unsuspicious”. In the subsequent final vote, the amended remaining proposal clearly failed to reach a majority.
This means: As of 4 April, the EU derogation will expire for good. US corporations like Meta, Google, and Microsoft must stop the indiscriminate scanning of the private chats of European citizens. The digital privacy of correspondence is restored!
The Myth of a Legal Vacuum
This does not create a legal vacuum—quite the opposite. Ending indiscriminate mass scanning clears the path for modern, effective child protection. Fearmongering that investigators will be “flying blind” is unwarranted: Recently, only 36% of suspicious activity reports from US companies originated from the surveillance of private messages anyway. Social media and cloud storage services are becoming increasingly relevant for investigations. Targeted telecommunications surveillance based on concrete suspicion and a judicial warrant remains fully permissible, as does the routine scanning of public posts and hosted files. User reporting also remains fully intact.
Digital freedom fighter and former Member of the European Parliament Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) commented on today’s historic victory:
“This historic day brings tears of joy! The EU Parliament has buried Chat Control – a massive, hard-fought victory for the unprecedented resistance of civil society and citizens! The fact that a single vote tipped the scales against the extremely error-prone text and image search shows: Every single vote in Parliament and every call from concerned citizens counted!We have stopped a broken and illegal system. Once our investigators are no longer drowning in a flood of false and long-known suspicion reports from the US, resources will finally be freed up to hunt down organized abuse rings in a targeted and covert manner. Trying to protect children with mass surveillance is like desperately trying to mop up the floor while leaving the faucet running. We must finally turn off the tap! This means genuine child protection through a paradigm shift: Providers must technically prevent cybergrooming from the outset through secure app design. Illegal material on the internet must be proactively tracked down and deleted directly at the source. That is what truly protects children.
But beware, we can only celebrate briefly today: They will try again. The negotiations for a permanent Chat Control regulation are continuing under high pressure, and soon the planned age verification for messengers threatens to end anonymous communication on the internet. The fight for digital freedom must go on!”
The Next Battle: The Return of Chat Control and Mandatory ID
Despite today’s victory, further procedural steps by EU governments cannot be completely ruled out. Most of all, the trilogue negotiations on a permanent child protection regulation (Chat Control 2.0) are continuing under severe time pressure. There, too, EU governments continue to insist on their demand for “voluntary” indiscriminate Chat Control.
Furthermore, the next massive threat to digital civil liberties is already on the agenda: Next up in the ongoing trilogue, lawmakers will negotiate whether messenger and chat services, as well as app stores, will be legally obliged to implement age verification. This would require users to provide ID documents or submit to facial scans, effectively making anonymous communication impossible and severely endangering vulnerable groups such as whistleblowers and persecuted individuals.
Background: What exactly expires on 3 April
An EU interim regulation (2021/1232), set to expire on 3 April, currently permits US corporations such as Meta to carry out indiscriminate mass scanning of private messages on a voluntary basis. Three types of chat control are authorised: scanning for already known images and videos (so-called hash scanning, which generates over 90% of reports); automated assessment of previously unknown images and videos; and automated analysis of text content in private chats.
The AI-based analysis of unknown images and texts is extremely error-prone. But the indiscriminate mass scanning for known material is also highly controversial, too: beyond the unreliability of the algorithms documented by researchers, these scans rely on opaque foreign databases rather than European criminal law. The algorithms are blind to context and lack of criminal intent (e.g. consensual sexting between teenagers). As a result, vast numbers of private but criminally irrelevant chats are exposed.
New Study Proves: Chat Control Software is Flawed
The fact that today’s decision by the EU Parliament was also technically imperative is proven by a newly published scientific study. Renowned IT security researchers analyzed the standard algorithm “PhotoDNA”, which is used by tech companies for Chat Control. Their damning verdict: The software is “unreliable”. The researchers proved that criminals can render illegal images invisible to the scanner through minimal alterations (e.g., adding a simple border), while harmless images can be easily manipulated so that innocent citizens are falsely reported to the police.
The Hard Facts: Why Chat Control Has Failed Spectacularly
The EU Commission’s 2025 evaluation report on Chat Control reads like an admission of complete failure:
- Data Giant Monopoly: Roughly 99% of all chat reports to police in Europe come from a single US tech corporation: Meta. US companies acted as a private auxiliary police force—without effective European oversight.
- Massive Police Overload from Junk Data: The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) reports that a staggering 48% of the disclosed chats are criminally irrelevant. This flood of junk data ties up resources that are urgently needed for targeted investigations.
- Criminalization of Minors: According to crime statistics, around 40% of investigations in Germany target teenagers who thoughtlessly share images (e.g., consensual sexting).
- An Obsolete Model Due to Encryption: Because providers are increasingly transitioning to end-to-end encryption for private messages, the number of chats reported to the police has already dropped by 50% since 2022.
- Failure in Child Protection: According to the Commission’s report, there is no measurable correlation between the mass surveillance of private messages and actual convictions.
The Great Fact Check: Disinformation Narratives of Proponents
During the legislative process, foreign-funded lobby groups and authorities tried to pressure the Parliament through fearmongering. A comparison of their claims with reality:
Disinformation 1: “The European Parliament is to blame for the collapse of the trilogue negotiations.”
(Claimed by the lobby alliance ECLAG and US tech companies)
- Fact: It was the EU Council of Ministers that deliberately let the negotiations fail. Leaked Council cables reveal that EU member states showed no willingness to compromise, fearing that any concession could set a precedent for the permanent Chat Control 2.0 regulation. Parliament’s lead negotiator, Birgit Sippel, sharply criticized the Council: “With their lack of flexibility, Member States have deliberately accepted that the interim regulation will expire.”
Disinformation 2: “Without indiscriminate Chat Control, law enforcement will be flying blind.”
(Claimed by authorities including BKA President Holger Münch)
Disinformation 3: “The deployed scanning technology is highly precise.”
(Claimed by Meta, Google, Microsoft, Snap, TikTok)
Disinformation 4: “The demand comes primarily from victims.”
(Implied by the ECLAG campaign)
The Way Forward: “Security by Design” Instead of Surveillance Mania
The European Parliament advocates a genuine paradigm shift for future legislation, supported by civil society, survivor networks, and IT security experts:
- Strict default settings and protective mechanisms (Security by Design) to make cybergrooming technically harder from the outset.
- Targeted telecommunications surveillance based on judicially confirmed suspicion.
- Proactive search by a new EU Child Protection Center and immediate takedown obligations for providers and law enforcement on the open internet and darknet – illegal material must be destroyed directly at the source. There must be an end to law enforcement agencies declaring themselves “not competent” for the removal of abuse material.
Bought Fearmongering by the Lobbying Machine
During the legislative process, the massive, questionable lobbying efforts were exposed: The push for Chat Control is heavily driven by foreign-funded lobby groups and tech vendors. The US organization Thorn, which sells the exact type of scanning software in question, spends hundreds of thousands of euros lobbying in Brussels. The tech industry officially lobbied side-by-side with certain organizations for a law that does not protect children, but rather secures their own profits and data access.
Patrick Breyer concludes:
“Right up to the very end, the US tech industry and foreign- or government-funded lobby groups tried to panic Europe. But flooding our police with false positives and duplicates from mass surveillance doesn’t save a single child from abuse. Today’s definitive failure of Chat Control is a clear stop sign to this surveillance mania. Negotiators cannot ignore this verdict in the ongoing trilogue negotiations for a permanent regulation. Indiscriminate mass scanning of our private messages must finally give way to truly effective and targeted child protection that respects fundamental rights.”
patrick-breyer.de/en/end-of-ch…
🇩🇪 1/7 🌍 Nicht-EU-finanzierte Lobbygruppen drängen mit irreführender Propaganda auf Einführung der #Chatkontrolle. Sie fordern #PassTheLaw, um deine Chats scannen zu lassen. Aber wer sind sie und wer bezahlt sie? Decken wir das Netzwerk auf.
Thread 👇
Patrick Breyer
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •🇪🇺
✅ #ChatControl stopped - mass scans end on April 4!
❌ But: Age verification and new mass scans loom ahead.
How we narrowly won today's voting thriller, who voted how, and how the fight for digital freedom continues:
patrick-breyer.de/en/end-of-ch…
End of “Chat Control”: EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveillance in Voting Thriller – Paving the Way for Genuine Child Protection!
Patrick Breyerlike this
clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 e Hypolite Petovan like this.
reshared this
Seth G., Associazione Peacelink, Gianmarco Gargiulo, DansLeRuSH ᴱᶰ, Buridan's procrastinator ⁂, Timo Ollech, Gazzetta del Cadavere, Claudio Ferri 🐢, The Nexus of Privacy, joene 🏴, Em e clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 reshared this.
Patrick Breyer
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •🇫🇷
✅ #ChatControl stoppé - les scans de masse prennent fin le 4 avril !
❌ Mais : vérification de l'âge et nouveaux scans de masse menacent.
Comment nous avons remporté de justesse le thriller du vote d'aujourd'hui, qui a voté quoi, et la suite du combat :
patrick-breyer.de/en/end-of-ch…
End of “Chat Control”: EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveillance in Voting Thriller – Paving the Way for Genuine Child Protection!
Patrick BreyerAssociazione Peacelink reshared this.
Patrick Breyer
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •🇮🇹
✅ #ChatControl fermato - le scansioni di massa finiscono il 4 aprile!
❌ Ma incombono la verifica dell'età e nuove scansioni di massa.
Come abbiamo vinto di misura il thriller del voto di oggi, chi ha votato cosa e come continua la lotta per la libertà:
patrick-breyer.de/en/end-of-ch…
End of “Chat Control”: EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveillance in Voting Thriller – Paving the Way for Genuine Child Protection!
Patrick Breyerreshared this
Associazione Peacelink, Gianmarco Gargiulo, Fedele, Oblomov, Fabrizio T., Gazzetta del Cadavere, cliffge, Lunga vita e prosperità., informapirata ⁂, ⚾️🤌☕🤌KinmenRisingProject-🇹🇼🇺🇦 e TiTiNoNero reshared this.
informapirata ⁂
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •grazie di tutto! Sappiamo che sei stato uno dei più indomabili combattenti e sappiamo che questa vittoria è anche tua! 💪
E sappiamo anche che la guerra non finirà con questa battaglia, ma almeno ora abbiamo una visione chiara di quali sono e come agiscono i nemici della privacy
Gazzetta del Cadavere reshared this.
vurk
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Oblomov reshared this.
Patrick Breyer
in reply to vurk • • •Vlekje
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •silhouette
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •tkissing
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Jacqueline
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Jacob
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Patrick Breyer
in reply to Jacob • • •Piratenpartei Deutschland likes this.
Reborn Anew
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •andreagtacj
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Chat Control 2.0 is now next!
Good Job everyone!
Uwe 🍉
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Da kommt der Eindruck auf, die #deutschenGrünen wären keine Feinde der #Demokratie, wären irgendwie besser als die #EVP. Ich bin sicher, dass das täuscht:
"Die Grünen warfen dem Kanzler vor, das Thema Gewalt gegen Frauen im Internet massiv zu vernachlässigen."
tagesschau.de/inland/merz-zuwa…
Wenn es darum geht, ein Problem zu missbrauchen, um Demokratie zu bekämpfen, gehen die deutschen Grünen mit bösem Beispiel voran.
Merz führt "explodierende Gewalt" auch auf Zuwanderung zurück
tagesschau.deUlrich Hegemann
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •chaos.social/@kenji/1162959734…
Prof. Dr. Dennis-Kenji Kipker (@kenji@chaos.social)
Prof. Dr. Dennis-Kenji Kipker (chaos.social)Patrick Breyer
Unknown parent • • •Effken
Unknown parent • • •@kluergen vielleicht enthalten = war anwesend, hat sich enfhalten
Und nicht abgestimmt = gar nicht vor Ort zur Wahl
??
JamesBont
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Oh man, der brauchte etwas und ich denke die wenigsten werden wirklich verstanden haben worum es da geht 😉
Da wundert es mich doch dass die Konservativen noch schlimmer sind als die Rechtsextremen oder die Rechtsextremen haben es nur nicht verstanden, weil deren Resthirn ohnehin nicht mehr aufnahmefähig sind ...
Natürlich DAFÜR !!!
Roland Sommer
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •Der zuversichtliche Daniel
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •JamesBont
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •@effken_von_nebenan @kluergen
Erstaunlich viele Konservative die gerade einmal etwas "besseres" zu tun hatten.
Oder wie Merz sagen täte: so viele Ausfälle sind nicht zu entschuldigen.
😉
skedarwarrior
in reply to Patrick Breyer • • •If only corporations like facebook, microsoft, apple and google disappeared off the face of the earth and were replaced with ones like commodore64's at minimum.
Or better yet, like the people who develop libre software or as some call it open source.
Things would be way better.
Anti-features should be illegal.