The European Union is once again reconsidering a law that could change the way we communicate forever. And not for the better. It’s called the Chat Control legislation (formally, the CSAM Regulation). On the surface it is presented as a child protection measure. But if you dig just a little deeper, it becomes clear that this law is a direct attack on our right to private communication.
What is Chat Control?
In simple terms, Chat Control would force messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, Telegram, and even smaller apps to scan all of your private messages and photos. The idea is to automatically detect illegal content. The reality is that it opens the door to mass surveillance of everyone’s conversations, whether you’ve done anything wrong or not.
And here’s the catch: if this law passes, end-to-end encryption could be broken. That means the private and secure messaging we rely on every day would no longer be truly private. Once a backdoor exists, it won’t just be the EU that can use it. Criminals, authoritarian regimes, or even foreign governments could exploit it.
Why this matters
We’ve been here before. Every time governments talk about “just scanning for bad content,” it ends up creating new risks for ordinary citizens. Strong encryption is what protects your banking details, your personal photos, and even businesses running in the cloud.
Without it, Europe’s digital economy will suffer. Companies that care about privacy will move elsewhere. Ordinary citizens like you and me will be left more vulnerable online.
This isn’t just me saying it. The European Parliament has already rejected mass surveillance proposals in the past. EU governments also haven’t been able to agree on this for more than two years. That should tell us something: it’s a bad law.
Want to understand more?
If you prefer a quick video explanation, I recommend this one on YouTube:
>> The EU wants to scan all your messages <<
And for more in-depth information, check out fightchatcontrol.eu. It’s a campaign site that explains exactly what’s going on and what you can do about it.
What I did and what you can do
I’ve already done my part. I wrote to all Belgian and Spanish representatives to express my opposition.
But this can’t just be a handful of people raising their voice. We need more EU citizens to take this seriously. If Chat Control passes, it will set a precedent for mass surveillance in Europe. This is the exact opposite of what I’ve been arguing for in my previous blog posts about privacy, decentralisation, and digital rights.
Take action now
If you care about your privacy, your digital freedom, and the kind of Europe we want to live in, please:
- Visit fightchatcontrol.eu
- Learn more about the proposal and why it’s dangerous
- Use their tools to contact your national representatives and tell them to reject Chat Control
The EU should be leading the world in protecting fundamental rights, not tearing them down. Let’s make sure we don’t sleepwalk into mass surveillance.