Europe

EU Allows Tech Companies to Scan Private Messages

Is this necessary to shield for children online or a Trojan horse to normalize mass surveillance?

Published JUL 9

EU Allows Tech Companies to Scan Private Messages

Story

Above: The European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on July 3. Image credit: Malin Wunderlich/picture alliance/Getty Images

The Facts

The European Parliament voted Thursday to reinstate temporary rules allowing tech platforms to voluntarily scan for and remove child sexual abuse material online, while also adopting an amendment exempting end-to-end encrypted services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram.
Index.hr
Euronext
The reinstated measure, which will remain in effect until April 3, 2028, does not require platforms to scan messages and does not grant governments direct access to user communications. It restores a temporary exemption from EU e-privacy rules that lapsed on April 3.
European Council
Index.hr
The vote passed under a parliamentary procedure requiring an absolute majority of at least 361 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) to reject or amend the bill, with only 276 voting to reject. However, a majority voted to add restrictions, backed by a coalition of liberal, left-wing and right-wing MEPs.
EuroNews
Wired
Index.hr
This comes after the Council adopted its position on the interim measure on July 2, and now has three months to respond to Parliament's amendments.
Reuters
European Council
The European People's Party used the procedural move to bring the vote, bypassing preliminary committee debate. EPP vice-chair Tomas Tobé urged lawmakers to act, saying, "We cannot go to the summer recess knowing that our children are not protected."
EuroNews
Wired
Pirate Party lawmaker Marketa Gregorova said she was glad an amendment preserving encryption secured an absolute majority, but added that "voluntary mass scanning unfortunately passed." Critics have warned the measure could enable surveillance of private messages.
Index.hr
Euronext

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Pro-government narrative

Children deserve protection online, and reinstating voluntary scanning rules for platforms like Meta and Google is a reasonable step toward that goal. End-to-end encryption remains fully protected, so the privacy concerns are overblown. Letting a legal gap persist while abusers operate freely is a failure of basic governance, and this interim measure bridges that gap until permanent legislation is in place.

European Council

Reuters

Government-critical narrative

Passing Chat Control through a procedural maneuver that bypasses committee debate — after a majority of MEPs actually voted against it — is completely undemocratic and immoral. Nearly half of flagged communications under the previous version were completely legal, proving these scanning tools cause real harm to innocent people. Voluntary mass surveillance of private messages sets a dangerous precedent that will be nearly impossible to walk back.

Index.hr

Wired