EU Governments Push Broad Surveillance of Private Messages
Leaked documents from the Council of the European Union suggest that Member States are considering a system that could allow the widespread scanning of private communications. The proposal is linked to the EU regulation intended to combat child sexual abuse online and may become a key issue in upcoming trilogue negotiations.
Under the proposed “search plans,” national courts or independent administrative authorities could give providers of chat and email services temporary, broad authorizations to scan message content. Critics fear that these authorizations could cover large parts of a service rather than being limited to specific people suspected of criminal activity.
The proposal could preserve practices associated with the temporary system often called “chat control 1.0.” Under that system, some technology companies voluntarily scan user communications for suspected child sexual abuse material. Patrick Breyer, a former Member of the European Parliament and civil rights campaigner, argues that the proposed search plans would simply give mass surveillance a new legal label.
The Council’s Legal Service has reportedly warned that scanning an entire service, or substantial parts of it, could violate EU law. Such practices may be considered general and indiscriminate surveillance by the Court of Justice of the European Union. This could raise serious concerns under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, including the rights to privacy, data protection, and confidential communications.
There is also a possible fallback plan if the negotiations fail to produce agreement on scanning private chats. According to the leaked documents, private communications could be excluded from the permanent regulation. That outcome could leave the temporary system in place and allow providers to continue voluntary scanning without a clear long-term solution.
Breyer has called on the European Parliament to reject a permanent regulation unless the transitional system is replaced. He also points to the high number of reports that do not lead to meaningful investigations. Around 75 percent of reported chats are said to be legally irrelevant, while some investigations in Germany involve adolescents engaged in consensual sexting. These cases can create false alarms and place additional pressure on law enforcement.
The European Parliament has generally supported a more targeted approach. Its position includes stronger privacy and safety settings to reduce unwanted contact, as well as surveillance orders based on specific suspicion, specific individuals or groups, and judicial oversight. Parliament also supports a new EU center that would search publicly accessible material for known child sexual abuse content.
From a data protection perspective, any final regulation will need to meet the principles of necessity, proportionality, purpose limitation, and data minimization. Measures that scan millions of private messages without individualized suspicion could face serious legal challenges and may ultimately weaken, rather than strengthen, efforts to protect children.
