European Parliament Extends Child Abuse Message-Scanning Rules Until 2028 With Encryption Exemption

The European Parliament has passed legislation allowing technology firms to scan messages for child sexual abuse material until 2028, reviving a controversial framework critics call “chat control.” According to Cointelegraph, EU lawmakers on Thursday largely voted against extending the regulation known as “Chat Control 1.0,” but stopping it required 361 lawmakers to reject it; only 314 voted to block the law, while 276 supported it. The vote advances the return of rules that expired in April and has drawn criticism from privacy and cryptography advocates who argue the original design undermines the principles behind encrypted messaging. Supporters of the measure say it is necessary to protect children and curb the spread of abusive material.

Parliament also approved an amendment exempting “communications to which end-to-end encryption is, has been or will be applied,” which advocates described as a limited win for encryption. Pirate Party MEP Markéta Gregorová, whose party proposed the exemption, called the outcome a “bittersweet victory,” saying encryption protection was a priority but that “voluntary mass scanning unfortunately passed.” The amended legislation will now be sent back to the Council of the EU, made up of ministers from member states, which will decide whether to approve or reject it. The Thursday vote followed a rarely used urgent procedure approved on Tuesday that brought lawmakers back to decide whether to extend the legal framework after it lapsed in April. Since the framework expired, messaging platforms such as WhatsApp have been able to take voluntary measures to detect abusive material.

The extension effort has been politically contested in recent months. In March, Parliament rejected a temporary extension while a permanent proposal, dubbed “Chat Control 2.0,” was being discussed. Cointelegraph reported that the European People’s Party, the largest group in Parliament, later revived the extension through the urgent procedure vote on Tuesday. The party had largely opposed extending the laws in March due to amendments that narrowed scanning, but its leader, Manfred Weber, sought ways to advance an extension without those changes. Former MEP Breyer said the “political battle over the permanent ‘Chat Control 2.0’ is just getting started,” adding that the resistance seen in Parliament suggests securing a majority for permanent, suspicionless mass scanning in future negotiations is unlikely. Negotiations on the permanent law are set to resume in September, with lawmakers debating whether scanning should be targeted or broadly applied.