Is the EU's 'Chat Control' the end of private messaging in Europe?

EU countries have extended temporary rules allowing platforms to detect child sexual abuse material online voluntarily until 2028. Lawmakers' biggest battle is the permanent "chat control" law that could decide the future of private messaging in Europe. Watch the video. First proposed by the European Commission in 2021, "chat control" lets platforms scan for known abuse material under a temporary rule. That regime nearly collapsed this year. It expired on 3 April, was rejected by Parliament's civil liberties committee in March, then survived a fast-tracked vote on 9 July when a motion to reject it fell just short of the required majority. It will now run until April 2028. The main issue is the permanent law, known as "chat control 2.0", which would include mandatory risk assessments, detection orders, and the scanning of messages. Encrypted messages were mentioned in early versions. Discussions between Parliament, the Council, and the Commission have continued since December 2025 without reaching a consensus. The fifth round, on 29 June, ended in a deadlock over mandatory scanning. Negotiators will not meet again until September. Supporters point to Europol’s data logging over 20 million suspected abuse reports in 2024. Privacy regulators and rights groups counter that scanning messages before they're encrypted would undermine encryption itself and risk false accusations at scale. Signal has said it would rather leave the EU than comply.