Analysis: EU Regulatory Threats on Chat Control Could Lead to Centralized Surveillance Risks

Jinse Finance reported that recently, Europe nearly passed a proposal called "Chat Control," which would have imposed large-scale surveillance on private communications. The proposal faced strong opposition from all sectors of society because it would have forced service providers to scan all private messages. The proposal was ultimately rejected because Germany refused to support it. Among EU member states, only nine countries opposed the proposal, twelve supported it, and six had yet to decide. This narrow voting margin highlights the fragility of legal consensus around privacy. Even within the EU, which has the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles, and some of the world's strictest personal data protection laws, policymakers are increasingly inclined to view privacy and encryption as issues requiring careful scrutiny rather than as key attributes of digital infrastructure that must be defended. The mistaken argument that security needs can justify and prove the reasonableness of large-scale surveillance is gaining more and more support on the regulatory agenda, which is a worrying development.