EU states strike deal on chat-scanning law
A long-awaited breakthrough on the EU’s child protection law has reopened a fierce debate over how far governments should go to safeguard children online without sliding into widespread digital surveillance.
EU member states have finally reached a unified stance on a long-debated law aimed at tackling online child sexual abuse, ending years of stalemate driven by fierce privacy concerns. Governments agreed to drop the most controversial element of the original proposal, mandatory scanning of private messages, after repeated blockages and public opposition from privacy advocates who warned it would amount to mass surveillance.
The move comes as reports of child abuse material continue to surge, with global hotlines processing nearly 2.5 million suspected images last year.
The compromise, pushed forward under Denmark’s Council presidency, maintains the option for tech companies to scan content voluntarily while affirming that end-to-end encryption must not be compromised. Supporters argue that the agreement closes a regulatory gap that will occur when temporary EU rules allowing voluntary detection expire in 2026.
However, children’s rights groups argue that the Council has not gone far enough, saying that simply preserving the current system will not adequately address the scale of the problem.
Privacy campaigners remain alarmed. Critics fear that framing voluntary scanning as a risk-reduction measure could encourage platforms to expand surveillance of user communications to shield themselves from liability.
Former MEP Patrick Breyer, a prominent voice in the campaign against so-called ‘chat control,’ warned that the compromise could still lead to widespread monitoring and possibly age-verification requirements that limit access to digital services.
With the Council and European Parliament now holding formal positions, negotiations will finally begin on the regulation’s final shape. But with political divisions still deep and the clock ticking toward the 2026 deadline, it may be months before the EU determines how far it is willing to go in regulating the detection of child sexual abuse material, and at what cost to users’ privacy.
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