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ChatControl, Orwell in Disguise
Brussels remains fixated on rolling out mass digital surveillance, undeterred by five straight years of blistering warnings from the EU’s own independent data protection authorities.
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Think the backlash against digital control regulation like the Digital Services Act, ChatControl, or the so-called European Democracy Shield is just the ravings of paranoid lunatics screaming “censorship” or “privacy violation” too soon? That fears of an Orwellian surveillance state are the delusions of conspiracy nuts? That you have nothing to hide, so you have nothing to fear? That all this is nobly done to fight illegal content, online pedocrime, or foreign election meddling?
Look closely at ChatControl—the EU’s endless “provisional” regulation on preventing and combating child sexual abuse—and the mask slips.
Adopted provisionally in 2021, it remains stuck in limbo five years later. EU institutions can’t agree: the European Parliament is (rightly) more cautious than the Commission, and platforms drag their feet on implementing mass scanning of all communications for illegal material.
As of February 2026, the saga of ChatControl (the Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse) is entering its decisive phase. The so-called “temporary” derogation allowing platforms to voluntarily scan private communications for child sexual abuse material—originally a short bridge measure—has already been extended multiple times and now expires in April 2026.
Yet Brussels is actively pushing to prolong it yet again, potentially to 2028, while the permanent framework remains mired in trilogue negotiations between the Commission, Council, and Parliament.
The Council locked in its position in late 2025: no outright mandatory indiscriminate scanning of encrypted messages (a concession extracted after fierce resistance), but a permanent entrenchment of “voluntary” scanning, backed by regulatory pressure, risk-assessment obligations on providers, and a future review clause that could reintroduce detection orders within three years.
Critics, including former MEP Patrick Breyer and groups like EDRi and the EFF, call this mandatory scanning by stealth—normalizing bulk, warrantless analysis of private messages under the guise of child protection while preserving plausible deniability.
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