Chat Control Must Be Stopped, Act Now! Illustration: Em / Privacy Guides | Photo: Ramaz Bluashvili / Pexels Overview "Chat Control" is a proposed EU regulation that mandates all service providers (including messaging, email, social media, cloud services) to scan all communications and files— including encrypted content— for government-flagged "abusive material," primarily claiming to fight child sexual abuse. Despite its intent to protect children, Chat Control endangers privacy, democracy, and human rights globally, not just in Europe. The proposal is up for decision in September-October 2025 and requires urgent opposition. --- Act Now! European governments will finalize positions on September 12th, 2025. If you are in Europe, contact your Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) immediately to oppose Chat Control. Use fightchatcontrol.eu for easy contact tools. If your country supports or is undecided about Chat Control, it is critical to voice opposition. Spread awareness to friends and family. The final vote is scheduled for October 14th, 2025—action is needed until then. Countries supporting Chat Control include Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden; undecided countries include Estonia, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia. Image: Patrick Breyer / chatcontrol.eu --- What Is Chat Control? Rooted in a 2021 EU ePrivacy Directive derogation allowing mass surveillance of private communications. Proposed as Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) but fails to effectively address abuse. Requires scanning all digital communications and files, including those with end-to-end encryption. Experts, like cryptography professor Matthew Green, have described it as terrifying and a fundamental threat to privacy. --- Why Is This Bad? Breaks end-to-end encryption, stripping protection for vulnerable groups, journalists, whistleblowers, and activists. Mission creep: Originally targeting child abuse, but could expand to surveil drug usage, political dissent, protest attendance, and other private behaviors. Criminal attacks: Backdoors created for surveillance will be exploited by criminals; databases holding sensitive flagged content could be hacked, exposing victims and innocent parties. False positives: High risk of mislabeling innocent people, including children, breastfeeding mothers, and teenagers sexting consensually, leading to wrongful investigations and trauma. Overwhelmed resources: Investigators will be swamped with false alarms, wasting time and resources needed for real cases. Hurting victims: Surveillance may deter victims from seeking help or reporting crimes due to lack of confidentiality and risk of being falsely accused. Self-censorship: Knowing communications are monitored will chill free speech, especially among marginalized groups. Undermines democracy: Enables authoritarian abuse against political opponents, activists, and journalists. Violates EU laws: Contradicts GDPR rights, including the right to erasure and fundamental rights protected under the EU Charter. Chat Control is authoritarian mass surveillance disguised as child protection, with exemptions for government communications but not citizens’. --- Would This Protect The Children? No. It would do more harm than good. Automated scanning has extremely high false positive rates (80% false positives reported by Swiss federal police). Millions of innocent children could be wrongfully labeled sexual predators. Sensitive personal and intimate content between children or families would be