Germany rejects EU's ‘Chat Control’ law, likely killing it

Signal and Tuta Mail have vowed to leave the European market if the law passes

Germany will vote against the EU's controversial proposal to scan private digital messages for child sexual abuse material (CSAM), a move that is expected to derail the legislation across the bloc.

The proposal, known informally as "Chat Control," would have required tech companies to scan all user communications, including those protected by end-to-end encryption, for potential CSAM content using AI-powered filters.

Critics, however, have long warned that the plan amounts to mass surveillance and undermines fundamental privacy rights.

German Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig wrote on X that Berlin would not support the measure, calling random message scanning incompatible with democratic principles.

"Random chat monitoring must be taboo in a constitutional state," Hubig said.

"Private communication must never be placed under general suspicion."

Hubig added that Germany remains fully committed to fighting child pornography, but she argued that the proposal's broad scope would trample civil liberties.

"Even the worst crimes do not justify surrendering basic civil rights," she added.

Jens Spahn, a Bundestag member from Germany ' s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is part of the ruling coalition, confirmed that the German government would not permit the proposed regulations to pass into law.

"We, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, are opposed to the unwarranted monitoring of chats," Spahn said.

"That would be like opening all letters as a precautionary measure to see if there is anything illegal in them. That is not acceptable, and we will not allow it."

Decisive vote

Germany's position effectively kills Brussels' latest attempt to push through the Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation, which has been under negotiation since 2022.

Under EU law, the Council of the European Union can only pass legislation if it secures a qualified majority, that is, approval from at least 55% of member states representing at least 65% of the EU's total population.

To block a proposal, at least four countries representing 35% of the population must form what's known as a blocking minority.

Germany's 83.5 million citizens account for roughly 19% of the EU's population, giving the country a crucial vote in tipping the balance.

Until now, Poland and the Netherlands were among the largest nations publicly opposing the CSA Regulation.

With Germany's confirmation, the coalition against the proposal now meets the threshold to form a blocking minority, virtually ensuring the legislation's failure in the upcoming 14th October vote.

France, Spain, and Portugal remain among the proposal's strongest backers, while Italy, Belgium, and Sweden have yet to declare their positions.

Opposition from privacy advocates

The Chat Control proposal has sparked backlash from privacy advocates, technologists, and encrypted communications providers across Europe.

Human rights group European Digital Rights (EDRi) called the plan "a step toward mass surveillance," arguing that the AI technologies proposed for detecting illegal content are unreliable and incompatible with privacy-preserving encryption.

Encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal and Tuta Mail have also vowed to leave the European market if the law passes.

Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, reiterated her opposition last week, warning that the regulation would "require mass scanning of every message, photo, and video on a person's device."

Matthias Pfau, CEO of Germany-based encrypted email provider Tuta Mail, has pledged to challenge any attempt to weaken encryption through legal action.

"If Chat Control passes, we as an encrypted provider have two options: sue to fight for people's privacy, or leave the EU," Pfau said.

"And we've decided to fight. We will never weaken or backdoor our encryption."