Jul 10, 2026 13:15:00

The European Parliament has adopted an amendment to the revived 'chat control' bill that excludes encrypted messages.

The European Parliament has adopted an amendment to the 'Chat Control' bill, which would scan communications on social media and messaging apps to combat child sexual abuse content (CSAM), a bill that was once shelved in March 2026 but has since been revived. The amendment would exclude messaging services with end-to-end encryption.

Combating child sexual abuse: support for a more limited ePrivacy derogation | News | European Parliament

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20260706IPR46318/combating-child-sexual-abuse-support-for-a-more-limited-eprivacy-derogation

European Parliament aims to exclude end-to-end chats from message-scanning regime | Euronews

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/09/european-parliament-aims-to-exclude-end-to-end-chats-from-message-scanning-regime

'Chat control' is an initiative aimed at preventing the distribution of CSAM by having communication providers widely scan communication content, but it has also drawn opposition due to concerns about privacy violations.

Calls to immediately abolish the 'chat control proposal' that monitors private messages under the guise of child protection - GIGAZINE

Of the 'chat control' proposals, the 'Chat Control 1.0' plan, which was approved in 2021 as an interim bill and allowed companies to voluntarily scan emails and messages, was put to a vote in the European Parliament in March 2026. The vote resulted in 307 votes in favor, 306 against, and 24 abstentions, and the proposal was rejected.

The EU has decided to repeal 'Chat Control 1.0,' which allowed voluntary scanning of private messages. From April 4, 2026, major technology companies such as Meta, Google, and Microsoft will be prohibited from scanning private messages within the EU - GIGAZINE

However, European Parliament President Roberta Mezzola was not satisfied with the result and revived the bill through the EU Council using a procedure that had hardly ever been used, according to the news site POLITICO.

Metsola heads for clash with her own Parliament over child abuse bill – POLITICO

https://www.politico.eu/article/roberta-metsola-heads-for-clash-with-her-own-parliament-over-child-abuse-bill-csam/

The European Parliament, which is considering the same bill, has adopted an amendment that calls for 'communications to which end-to-end encryption is applied or to which it is planned to be applied' to be excluded from scanning.

The proposed amendments will be sent to the EU Council, which will decide whether to approve or reject them within three months. If the EU Council does not accept the amendments, the European Parliament and the EU Council will seek an agreement on the bill through mediation procedures.

The European Parliament has pointed out that 'if the EU Council had followed its proposal, the special measures that were supposed to have been scrapped would have been effectively reinstated, allowing service providers to scan private communications conducted on their services.'