According to TechRadar, Denmark has withdrawn its controversial mandatory chat scanning proposal that was scheduled for an October 14 EU Council meeting due to lack of support. The original Chat Control plan would have forced all messaging platforms including encrypted services like Signal and WhatsApp to scan all URLs, pictures, and videos for child sexual abuse material before encryption. The new compromise proposal from October 30 removes mandatory detection obligations but makes voluntary CSAM scanning permanent while including a “review clause” that could reintroduce mandatory scanning later. Digital rights expert Patrick Breyer calls this a “major leap forward” but warns it could still lead to “indiscriminate mass surveillance” even when implemented voluntarily by providers like Meta, Microsoft, and Google.
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The backdoor isn’t closed
Here’s the thing about this “compromise” – it feels like they’re just kicking the can down the road. That review clause is basically an invitation for the European Commission to come back later and say “hey, new technology exists, let’s make scanning mandatory again.” Callum Voge from the Internet Society thinks this might be a negotiation tactic to appease hard-line member states that really wanted mandatory scanning all along. But Breyer isn’t buying it – he sees this as a way to “introduce mandatory Chat Control through the backdoor.” So while it looks like a victory on the surface, the fundamental threat to encryption and privacy hasn’t actually gone away.
Voluntary doesn’t mean safe
Now here’s where it gets tricky. Even if scanning remains voluntary, the big tech companies might still implement it. Breyer points out that when Meta, Microsoft, or Google do this voluntarily, it’s still “totally untargeted and results in indiscriminate mass surveillance of all private messages.” Basically, your private conversations could still be scanned by default if you’re using these services. The difference is that now you theoretically have a choice – you can switch to services that don’t scan. But how many ordinary users are actually going to do that? Most people just use whatever messaging app their friends and family use.
What happens now?
So where does this leave us? The Danish proposal needs to attract a majority to move forward, and history isn’t exactly on its side. Poland tried something similar earlier this year and gave up in June due to lack of votes. The technical details matter too – we’re still waiting to see the concrete compromise text, particularly around Article 5 which might require “high-risk services” to develop monitoring technologies. The original Commission proposal from May 2022 included mandatory scanning, and this new approach feels like a temporary retreat rather than a permanent solution. The battle over private messaging in Europe is far from over – it’s just entering a new phase.
The bigger privacy fight
Look, here’s the fundamental problem: you can’t have both end-to-end encryption and mandatory scanning of content before it’s encrypted. The math doesn’t work. Either your messages are private or they’re not. This debate isn’t really about child safety versus privacy – it’s about whether we’re willing to accept mass surveillance as the default for digital communication. And while Denmark’s current proposal removes the immediate threat of mandatory scanning, it keeps the door wide open for future attacks on encryption. The digital rights movement might have won this battle, but the war is definitely not over.
