Dang. They cannot help themselves slip-sliding away into complete authoritarianism in Europe.
The excuse behind this measure, from the very beginning, has always been:
FOR THE CHILDREN
...so you know it's a doozy.
Back in October, I told you about 'Chat Control,' a proposal the European Union was considering ostensibly to protect 'the children' from online predators and porn. The EU government would have access to everything you did online. No chats, no texts, no video, and no message would be safe - they would all be read by government monitors.
FOR THE CHILDREN
Even the Germans had never been very hep on the idea because of its overarching intrusiveness - I mean, every last shred of online privacy would be stripped. But eventually, even they were gradually being worn down towards acceptance, to the point that Signal, the encrypted app, was so alarmed that the company issued a warning about the legislation, calling it 'catastrophic.'
We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. https://t.co/015qmQnIS2
— Signal (@signalapp) October 3, 2025
Alice Weidel's Alternativ for Germany (AfD) entered the fray, as well, arguing that the Danish measure was simply a ruse to turn Europe into a surveillance state under 'the guise of child protection.'
After Germany dropped its long-standing opposition to EU chat control, leading encrypted messenger Signal issued a dire warning about privacy in Europe, with the post going viral.
However, now European parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) have joined in the criticism, with the party warning just before the EU Council vote that so-called “chat control” could end privacy entirely in Europe.
The protest from the AfD comes after Signal threatened to pull out entirely from Europe if the EU implements its surveillance plans. If Signal went through with such a move, it would be a major black eye for the EU, putting it on par with surveillance states like China.
Ruben Rupp, the digital policy spokesperson for the AfD parliamentary group, warned against “total surveillance under the guise of child protection.”
So much evil done 'for' the children.
It is odd that in the face of Brussels going after Hungary and refusing the country funds owed to it due to measures it has taken to protect children, the EU has now decided to push legislation that would give it the power to view and seize your private online conversations — in the name of protecting children.
Denmark is leading the charge, as it is the presiding EU president, but it is Germany’s veto that will be needed to push “chat control” through, come the vote on Oct. 14, writes Welt.
Emotions ran so strongly against the measure that it seemed a victory for freedom of speech was about to occur when Friedrich Merz's party declared they would not support the regulation. People certainly were buoyant at the time, thinking they had vanquished their oppressors.
— @levelsio (@levelsio) October 7, 2025
Denmark reportedly shelved the mass surveillance plan it had initially offered, which started the whole firestorm.
Good times for a brief shining moment. They should have paid attention to the details of exactly how Chat Control 'failed.'
EU Chat Control (scanning messages and files in EU countries) failed to pass in the October 15 vote but is scheduled for a re-vote in December 2025.
— Pirat_Nation 🔴 (@Pirat_Nation) October 25, 2025
Instead of a decisive "no" due to insufficient majority, the vote was canceled to allow countries time to reconsider. pic.twitter.com/UDHa7dmHjG
Not so much a failure as a time out. That's never good.
I'm pretty sure those happy balloons deflated as word came that much like Freddy Krueger or Michael Meyers, Chat Control was back a month later. This time, it came wrapped in a new, improved form, with the same restrictive, dystopian effect, just with different wording.
Just a month later and...
— @levelsio (@levelsio) November 13, 2025
🇪🇺 ChatControl is back!
Now they're trying to pass an even more far reaching ChatControl law through the back door, in a form even more intrusive than the originally rejected plan, without needing any of the EU countries votes
The new proposal:
-… https://t.co/z0xK7i032K pic.twitter.com/1VobaMXtS5
Unbelievable. 'Risk mitigation' is so much more palatable than surveillance, isn't it?
The EU was hoping that, if anyone heard about it, they would think so, too.
NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND ENTIRELY BENIGN FOR THE CHILDREN
1. MANDATORY CHAT CONTROL – MASKED AS “RISK MITIGATION”
Officially, explicit scanning obligations have been dropped. But a loophole in Article 4 of the new draft obliges providers of e-mail, chat and messenger services like WhatsApp to take “all appropriate risk mitigation measures.” This means they can still be forced to scan all private messages – including on end-to-end encrypted services.
“The loophole renders the much-praised removal of detection orders worthless and negates their supposed voluntary nature,” says Breyer. “Even client-side scanning (CSS) on our smartphones could soon become mandatory – the end of secure encryption.”
2. TOTAL SURVEILLANCE OF TEXT CHATS: A “DIGITAL WITCH HUNT”
The supposedly voluntary “Chat Control” goes far beyond the previously discussed scanning of photos, videos, and links. Now, algorithms and AI can be used to mass-scan the private chat texts and metadata of all citizens for suspicious keywords and signals.
“No AI can reliably distinguish between a flirt, sarcasm, and criminal ‘grooming’,” explains Breyer. “Imagine your phone scanning every conversation with your partner, your daughter, your therapist and leaking it just because the word ‘love’ or ‘meet’ appears somewhere. This is not child protection – this is a digital witch hunt. The result will be a flood of false positives, placing innocent citizens under general suspicion and exposing masses of private, even intimate, chats and photos to strangers.” Under the current voluntary “Chat Control 1.0” scanning scheme, German federal police (BKA) already warn that around 50% of all reports are criminally irrelevant, equating to tens of thousands of leaked legal chats per year.
3. DIGITAL HOUSE ARREST FOR TEENS & THE END OF ANONYMOUS COMMUNICATION
In the shadow of the Chat Control debate, two other disastrous measures are being pushed through:
- The End of Anonymous Communication: To reliably identify minors as required by the text, every citizen would have to present their ID or have their face scanned to open an email or messenger account. “This is the de facto end of anonymous communication online – a disaster for whistleblowers, journalists, political activists, and people seeking help who rely on the protection of anonymity,” warns Breyer.
- “Digital House Arrest”: Teens under 16 face a blanket ban from WhatsApp, Instagram, online games, and countless other apps with chat functions, allegedly to protect them from grooming. “Digital isolation instead of education, protection by exclusion instead of empowerment – this is paternalistic, out of touch with reality, and pedagogical nonsense.”
They also decided that it was a waste of time to debate this and, you know, have everyone vote on it. I mean, things might come out during such public discourse that would make this regulation look bad. A 'Europeans might learn what was in the bill before they passed it,' scenario.
Despite a huge public outcry, the EU's dangerous plans to read every message you send have returned.
— MCC Brussels (@MCC_Brussels) November 24, 2025
This Wednesday, both the EU Parliament the the EU Council will consider revived proposals for CHAT CONTROL#ChatControlpic.twitter.com/vr3h9xiUvd
So the EU parliament and commission is going to do it all behind closed doors this Wednesday.
Isn't being the unelected overlords of darn near all of Europe the neatest, most convenient thing when you want to do what you want to do with no backtalk?
The EU plans to pass the controversial Chat Control legislation "behind closed doors." This law threatens user privacy by potentially allowing the scanning of private chats.
The draft is scheduled to be on the agenda of the EU ambassadors on Wednesday. It is expected to be approved "without discussion," as MEP Martin Sonneborn (Die Partei) reports on X.
Although the formal requirement for state-mandated oversight is removed, the new draft allows providers to implement "voluntary risk mitigation" strategies that could still lead to chat scanning. Experts warn that this might open the door to future state intervention.
I knew you'd think so, too.
It's always better to be the king.
Ed tells us that constantly.
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