Chat Control: Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Sweden shift their positions ahead of the October 14 meeting

Date:
Wed, 01 Oct 2025 10:19:35 +0000

Description:
Pressure within the EU Council, and domestically, has led to some nations changing their position on the controversial Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR). Yet, support remains stronger.

FULL STORY

Less than two weeks away from another crucial meeting, EU nations are
shifting their position on the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR).

Germany previously made headlines for joining the countries opposing
mandatory chat scanning . Yet, according to the latest data , the nation is
now back among the undecided countries and so is Belgium. On a more positive note, the likes of Italy, Sweden, and Latvia went from backing the bill to being undecided.

Support for the controversial proposal to scan all European citizens' chat remains stronger, though, with 12 countries backing the bill at the time of writing.

What's been nicknamed Chat Control seeks to introduce new obligations for all messaging services operating in Europe to scan users' chats even if they're encrypted in the search for both known and unknown CSAM material. A measure that has attracted strong criticism among political ranks and the tech
industry alike.

Now, pressure from within the EU Council and domestically has led to some changes among member representatives. That's something that could seriously affect the outcome of the meeting with the EU Justice Minister set for
October 14.

"A disinformation campaign"

EU Council members were called to share their final positions on the Danish proposal of Chat Control on September 12, 2025. The bill failed to attract
the necessary support yet again, but the Danish presidency decided to move forward nevertheless.

As a source with knowledge of the matter told TechRadar back then, Danes were expected to use the time left before October 14 to try to convince some of
the member states to reconsider their position.

In this regard, the German jurist and former Member of the European
Parliament, Patrick Breyer, reported that during the September 12 meeting, Denmark claimed that the European Parliament would refuse to extend the voluntary scanning law if the Council didn't find an agreement.

That's something that Breyer previously deemed as a " political backmail "
and, now, called out as a "blatant lie."

"There is no such decision by the European Parliament. There has not even
been a discussion on this issue," Breyer said. "We are witnessing a shameless disinformation campaign to force an unprecedented mass scanning law upon 450 million Europeans."

Lobbying is clearly working on the likes of Germany, which is thought to be a decisive factor in the Chat Control saga.

Breyer is now calling all EU governments, but especially Germany, "not to
fall for this blatant manipulation."

He said: "To sacrifice the fundamental right to digital privacy and secure encryption based on a fabrication would be a catastrophic failure of
political and moral leadership."

What's next?

The EU Council is now set to meet with the EU Justice Minister on October 14. What was previously thought to be only a formal sign-off is now deciding whether or not the proposal will land in the Parliament for the final
trilogue negotiations.

If Chat Control manages to survive the next step, "our only chance is that
the Parliament defends encryption in the trilogue negotiations," Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy at the Internet Society, Callum Voge, told TechRadar.

Experts have long argued against the privacy and security dangers of
so-called client-side scanning and the risks of undermining encryption. A concern that has pushed over 500 scientists to sign an open letter for the third time since 2022. Something that some of the best VPN providers slam as
" a major step backwards for privacy ," too.

Chat Control is far from being the only proposal that could endanger
encryption protections for Europeans and VPNs may also become a target next time, as some EU experts explicitly mentioned them as "key challenges" to investigative work.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/chat-control-germany-belgiu m-italy-and-sweden-shift-their-positions-ahead-of-the-october-14-meeting

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