The private message control saga takes a new twist. After a rejection in March, it is indeed back at the heart of the debates. This Thursday, July 9, the European Parliament is set to re-vote
The private message control saga takes a new twist. After a rejection in March, it is indeed back at the heart of the debates. This Thursday, July 9, the European Parliament is set to re-vote on the extension of the Chat Control system. This rekindles concerns about the confidentiality of private messages and the future of encryption in Europe. We tell you more in the following paragraphs!
Commonly called “Chat Control 1.0“, this European law allowed tech giants to voluntarily analyze communications. More concretely, this legal framework authorized messaging platforms to detect child abuse content.
Chat Control 1.0 expired on April 3, 2026, after the rejection of an extension by the MEPs by a single vote in March. The vote result was:
Since then, services like WhatsApp and Messenger continue to operate on a strictly voluntary basis (outside any legal framework).
Tuesday, July 7, 2026, a dramatic turn! The European Parliament approves the use of a rarely used emergency procedure. It modifies the usual parliamentary rules. Supported by the European People’s Party (EPP) and several member states, the vote obtained 331 votes against 304 and 11 abstentions.
Opponents denounce a challenge to the previous vote. Supporters of the text consider it essential to avoid a legal void after the expiration of the derogation provided by the ePrivacy regulation. For his part, EPP group president Manfred Weber has been seeking for several weeks a way to pass the text without changes, with the support of the EU Council. The latter approved a compromise version in early July.
Secure your cryptos with SafePalThis link uses an affiliate program.Generally, a simple majority would have been sufficient to reject or amend the proposal on private message control. However, the Chat Control 1.0 dossier is examined in second reading. This means that an absolute majority of 361 votes out of 720 MEPs is required to adopt it.
According to some analysts, this procedure offers a considerable advantage to supporters of the text. Especially since the vote is held during the last plenary session before the summer break. This period is characterized by extremely high parliamentary absenteeism.
MEP Markéta Gregorová, negotiator for the Greens/EFA on this dossier, strongly criticized this maneuver:
This vote violates our own procedural rules.
She accused the EPP of abusing its position as the largest political group to resurrect a text already rejected by MEPs.
Four European Commissioners, for their part, sent a letter to parliamentarians before Tuesday’s vote. They emphasize the risks of a persistent regulatory vacuum for detecting online abuses.
The Chat Control 1.0 dossier opposes two clearly distinct entities:
The first consider that current voluntary measures are not enough to combat the spread of child abuse material. The fact is that some service providers are less involved than others in detecting this content. According to them, the absence of a harmonized legal framework thus creates blind spots exploited by offenders.
The second denounce a disproportionate mass surveillance system potentially incompatible with the respect for privacy guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The main sticking point? The impact of the text on end-to-end encryption. This technology protects exchanges on apps like Signal and WhatsApp. Experts and cybersecurity researchers have repeatedly warned about the high false positive rates of automated detection tools. A risk that fuels opposition to the extension of Chat Control!
If the extension of Chat Control is confirmed on Thursday, the derogatory regime to the ePrivacy directive would be extended until 2028. This would allow service providers to detect, report, and remove child abuse content on a voluntary basis. Companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft could thus resume detection practices currently carried out outside any legal framework since April.
For European users, the issue directly concerns the confidentiality of their daily digital exchanges. This concerns both consumer messaging and professional services.
Supporters of an alternative approach argue for a paradigm shift. This is notably the case of former MEP Patrick Breyer. According to him, the ideal would be to target investigations on users already suspected and under judicial control rather than imposing a generalized scan of communications.
This targeted approach remains at the heart of negotiations on the future permanent regulation against child sexual abuse. Still under discussion since 2022, the dossier has been named “Chat Control 2.0”.
Thursday’s vote in no way closes the Chat Control dossier. Indeed, it is a transitional measure. The current procedure would allow European institutions to negotiate a permanent text regulating the detection of online abuse.
The question of digital privacy versus child protection imperatives will therefore remain at the center of discussions in Brussels in the coming months. But potential repercussions beyond the telecommunications sector can already be expected. This mainly refers to the ecosystem of decentralized technologies and encrypted messengers used in the crypto sphere.
In any case, Thursday’s vote on private message control illustrates the ongoing tensions between security and digital freedoms in Europe. Beyond this transitional text, the entire future of encryption and online confidentiality is at stake in Brussels. To be continued…
