End of "Chat Control": EU Parliament Stops Mass Surveillance in Voting Thriller

Summary

The controversial mass surveillance of private messages in Europe is coming to an end. After the European Parliament had already rejected the indiscriminate and blanket Chat Control by US tech companies on 13 March, conservative forces attempted a democratically highly questionable maneuver yesterday to force a repeat vote to extend the law anyway. However, in a true voting thriller today, the Parliament finally pulled the plug on this surveillance mania: With a razor-thin majority of just a single vote, the Parliament first rejected the automated assessment of unknown private photos and chat texts as “suspicious” or “unsuspicious”. In the subsequent final vote, the amended remaining proposal clearly failed to reach a majority. This means: As of 4 April, the EU derogation will expire for good. US corporations like Meta, Google, and Microsoft must stop the indiscriminate scanning of the private chats 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. Fearmongering that investigators will be “flying blind” is unwarranted: Recently, only 36% of suspicious activity reports from US companies originated from the surveillance of private messages anyway. Social media and cloud storage services are becoming increasingly relevant for investigations. Targeted telecommunications surveillance based on concrete 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. Digital freedom fighter and former Member of the European Parliament Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) commented on today’s historic victory: “This historic day brings tears of joy! The EU Parliament has buried Chat Control – a massive, hard-fought victory for the unprecedented resistance of civil society and citizens! Th...