EU parliament passes ‘chat control,’ allowing private chat scans until 2028
The European Parliament voted to allow tech firms to continue scanning messages for child sexual abuse material until 2028, reviving the controversial “chat control” framework after its previous version expired in April. A motion to stop the extension failed, with 314 votes against and 276 in favor, short of the 361 needed to reject it. Lawmakers did approve an amendment exempting communications protected by end-to-end encryption, preserving encrypted messaging from the scan mandate. Privacy and cryptography advocates welcomed that change, but critics called the remaining voluntary mass-scanning powers a setback. Supporters say the measure is needed to protect children and detect abusive material. The amended text now goes to the Council of the EU for approval or rejection. Negotiations on a permanent version, “Chat Control 2.0,” are set to resume in September, with debate continuing over targeted scanning versus broad, suspicionless scanning.
