End of “Chat Control”: Paving the Way for Genuine Child Protection!

The controversial mass surveillance of private messages in Europe could soon come to an end. Negotiations between the European Parliament and EU member states regarding the extension of the so-called “Chat Control” concluded yesterday without an agreement. This means that starting April 4, US tech giants like Meta, Google, and Microsoft must stop indiscriminately scanning the private chats and photos of European citizens. The digital privacy of correspondence is restored.

The Myth of a Legal Vacuum

This does not create a legal vacuum—quite the opposite. Ending indiscriminate mass scanning clears the path for modern, effective child protection. Targeted surveillance based on reasonable suspicion and a judicial warrant remains fully permissible, as does the routine scanning of public posts and hosted files. User reporting also remains fully intact.

New Study Proves: Chat Control Software is Flawed

Just in time for the end of the negotiations, a newly published scientific study provides the final nail in the coffin for the current system of indiscriminate chat control: Renowned IT security researchers analyzed the standard “PhotoDNA” algorithm, which is used by companies like Apple, Meta, and Microsoft for Chat Control. Their damning verdict: The software is “unreliable,” and there are “serious doubts on the suitability of PhotoDNA for the large-scale detection of illicit content.”

The researchers proved that criminals can render illegal images invisible to the scanner through minimal alterations (e.g., adding a simple border). At the same time, it is easy to manipulate harmless images so that innocent citizens are falsely reported to the police. Overall, the study warns “that the current widespread deployment and use of PhotoDNA represent a significant and concerning threat, both for innocent users of these platforms and for victims of illegal content dissemination.”

Digital freedom fighter and former Member of the European Parliament Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) commented on yesterday’s negotiation outcome:

“Yesterday was a triumph for civil society. Digital privacy of correspondence lives on! We have stopped a broken and illegal system. Just as the postal service isn’t allowed to simply open our physical letters, the indiscriminate scanning of our private digital messages must remain strictly off-limits.

The mass surveillance of our chats on US platforms has never made a significant contribution to rescuing abused children. Instead, it has criminalized thousands of teenagers and severely overloaded our police forces. If investigators are no longer drowning in a flood of false suspicion reports, resources will finally be freed up to hunt down organized abuse rings in a targeted and covert manner. That is what truly protects children.”

The Hard Facts: Why Chat Control Has Failed Spectacularly

The track record of indiscriminate chat control is disastrous. The EU Commission’s evaluation report reads like an admission of complete failure:

• Data Giant Monopoly: Roughly 99% of all chat reports to police in Europe come from a single US tech corporation: Meta. US companies are acting as a private auxiliary police force—without effective European oversight.
• Massive Police Overload from Junk Data: Algorithms are blind to context and intent. The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) reports that—out of around 300,000 chats reported annually in the EU—a staggering 48% are false positives and criminally irrelevant. This flood of junk data ties up massive resources that are urgently needed for targeted, covert investigations into real abuse rings.
• Criminalization of Minors: In Germany, 40% of investigations target teenagers who thoughtlessly share images (e.g., consensual sexting) rather than organized predators.
• An Obsolete Model Due to Encryption: Perpetrators can easily switch to encrypted messengers, where chat control is already not applied. Because providers are increasingly transitioning to end-to-end encryption for private messages, the number of chats reported to the police has already dropped by 50% since 2022. Instead of investing in targeted investigative work, the EU Council is clinging to a dying surveillance model.
• Reversal of the Burden of Proof: According to the Commission’s report, there is no measurable correlation between the mass surveillance of private messages and actual convictions. Yet, the Commission and Council are demanding the extension of a measure whose effectiveness they themselves cannot prove, all while service providers admit to error rates of up to 20%.
• Failure in Child Protection: Mass scanning for previously known images does not stop ongoing abuse, nor does it rescue children who are currently in acute danger.

The Way Forward: “Security by Design” Instead of Surveillance Mania

The EU Parliament and EU member states are continuing negotiations on a permanent child protection regulation (CSAR or Chat Control 2.0). While EU governments are once again demanding supposedly “voluntary” mass scans, the EU Parliament is championing a new approach: Platforms should be obliged to protect children directly through safe design (“Security by Design”). This includes requiring apps to technically prevent sexual approaches to children (grooming) through strict default settings and warning features. Furthermore, illegal material on the open web (and the darknet) must be actively tracked down and destroyed at the source via strict, immediate takedown obligations. There must be an end to law enforcement agencies, like Europol, declaring themselves “not responsible” for the removal of abuse material.

Bought Fearmongering by the Lobbying Machine

During the legislative process, lawmakers were pressured by the tech industry (DOT Europe) and certain child rights organizations (ECLAG), who jointly warned against the creation of “legal uncertainty.” This narrative is false. Phasing out indiscriminate Chat Control does not leave the police “blind.” The scanning of public posts and hosted files, as well as user-based reporting, remain fully permitted.

Moreover, massive and questionable lobbying efforts have been exposed: The push for Chat Control is heavily driven by foreign-funded lobby groups and tech vendors. The US organization Thorn, which sells the exact type of scanning software in question, spends hundreds of thousands of euros lobbying in Brussels. The tech industry officially lobbied side-by-side with certain organizations for a law that does not protect children, but rather secures their own profits and data access.

Patrick Breyer concludes:

“Right up to the very end, the US tech industry and foreign-funded lobby groups tried to panic Europe. But flooding our police with false positives from mass surveillance doesn’t save a single child from abuse. Yesterday’s failed negotiations serve as a clear stop sign to this surveillance mania. Negotiators cannot ignore this verdict in the ongoing trilogue negotiations for a permanent regulation. Indiscriminate mass scanning of our private messages must finally give way to truly effective child protection that respects fundamental rights.”

patrick-breyer.de/en/end-of-ch…

Patrick Breyer

2026-03-10 14:34:07

🇪🇺 1/7 🌍 Foreign-funded lobby groups from outside the EU are pushing #ChatControl with misleading propaganda. They want to #PassTheLaw to scan your chats, but who are they and who's paying them? Let's expose the network.
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