Chat Control, one of Europe’s most contentious digital policy debates, is back in the spotlight as negotiations over Chat Control 2.0 continue.

Some see the proposed regulation as an important step towards making the internet safer for children. Others are concerned about the surveillance mechanisms it could introduce and the implications for privacy and fundamental rights.

Following developments surrounding the temporary Chat Control framework in July 2026, which is now set to apply until April 2028, the debate over the permanent proposal raises important questions: What is the problem with Chat Control 2.0? Who is responsible? And what is the solution?

Patrick Breyer, a German digital freedom fighter and former Member of the European Parliament for the European Pirates, has voiced his opposition to Chat Control. As he put it, “Blanket chat control is just as unacceptable as indiscriminately opening everyone’s physical post.”  His concern goes beyond the privacy of individual messages. Once privacy is curtailed, it is followed by the erosion of freedom of information and expression, and thus of democracy, regardless of whether anyone has anything to hide.

Problem: Can surveillance alone guarantee protection?

The problem: European children are increasingly online and less protected than they deserve. What the council is trying to do about it might well endanger our privacy and the strength of our democracies. The link between these two issues might seem subtle, but it really isn’t.

Let’s compare your house to your life online: without a warrant, the state doesn’t have any right to go through the private correspondence you keep in your room, regardless of who built your house. Let’s say you have kids: they are under your responsibility; you know to install a fence above the stairs, to cover sharp edges, to keep fires and knives out of their reach. As a kid, you grow up under the responsibility of experienced and aware people who teach and protect you as you move around the house.

Except your online life is a kind of house that has never existed before, where you don’t know how to protect your children, where new dangers seep in as unexpectedly as mold. Children are increasingly in danger. According to the Flash Eurobarometer survey, July 2023, 82% of Europeans agree that parental control is not enough to protect their children online. That’s only fair, considering that even the younger generations of parents have never had any form of digital literacy education.

To tackle this, the European Council has proposed a permanent regulation that would be like a utility company showing up and going through the private correspondence in your room, without any court order. Colloquially named Chat Control, it pushes search plans that would let authorities scan whole parts of a service, without any court order or specific suspects.

What’s more, the tentative legislation put in place so far doesn’t seem to be working at all. Not only is privacy on the line, but also police systems are being flooded with false alarms. German police data shows that over half of investigations target minors themselves for consensual sexting, while 75% of all flagged chats are not actionable. This robs resources from investigating predators.

Furthermore, once this scanning infrastructure is permanently built into everyday apps under the guise of child protection, its boundaries will inevitably expand. Governments could easily repurpose it against whistleblowers, journalists, political opponents, or to suppress political dissent.

Who is responsible? Understanding the political setup

As of October 2026, Chat Control 1.0 (Regulation EU 2026/1881) is in effect, allowing voluntary message scanning on non-end-to-end encrypted services until April 3, 2028, while the permanent Chat Control 2.0 (Child Sexual Abuse Regulation / CSAR) remains under intense trilogue negotiations: the collaborative lawmaking talks between the EU Parliament, Council, and Commission, following its sixth round on September 29, 2026. 

Negotiators reached a tentative agreement allowing administrative authorities to issue public detection orders for hosting providers to scan publicly accessible spaces, such as social media and public cloud content, for known child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Technical talks will continue through October to address non-public communications, with a final political showdown scheduled for November. A major risk remains that negotiators could compromise by keeping the current “Chat Control 1.0” voluntary mass scanning regime (which runs until 2028) as a loophole.

The political deadlock remained focused on two areas: The encryption standoff and the mass surveillance clause.

The European Parliament’s negotiating team resisted the Council and Commission’s push for broad “Search Plans” and indiscriminate monitoring of private messages.

National governments also bear responsibility. They influence the Council’s negotiating position and can help determine whether the final legislation protects private communications or permits broader surveillance.

The Solution: Protection can exist without undermining privacy

Child protection does not mean breaking the internet. As Patrick Breyer put it, genuine child protection entails targeted undercover police work against perpetrator rings, systematic searching and removal of publicly accessible abuse material at the source, and requiring app providers to implement ‘security by design.’

The Global Platform for Child Exploitation Policy, among others, has been advocating for the implementation of security by design as an approach which centres safety from the very beginning of the development of tools, platforms and policies “rather than an afterthought or add-on”. 

Citizens can take a variety of actions:

• Make your voice heard: Reach out to MEPs and National Ministers through platforms like Fight Chat Control
• Vote with your tech: Switch to secure, End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE) tools such as Signal
• Stay informed: Follow watchdog organizations like the European Pirates, EDRi (European Digital Rights), and individual blogs such as Patrick Breyer’s.

Envisaging A Safe Digital Future For All Europeans

The European Pirates is a pan-European party dedicated to defending the digital rights of all Europeans. We want society to embrace the digital revolution as an opportunity to renew human connection; to do that, we must defend the internet as a common good and a public utility.

That vision means ensuring that digital progress never comes at the expense of fundamental human rights. We fully support building a safe online environment for children, but we reject indiscriminate mass surveillance. A healthy democracy is measured by how freely its citizens can express their opinions without fear of being watched. The European Pirates will continue to fight to protect that democratic freedom for everyone, irrespective of age.

The European Pirates advocate a digital future in which these goals reinforce one another rather than compete.

If you think privacy matters, it’s time you get involved.