- More than 40 European companies urge legislators to reject the bill for the regulation of child sexual abuse (CSAR)
- These companies warn that encryption must be protected to safeguard Europe’s digital sovereignty
- Chat control would introduce the mandatory scan of all private chats
The European Union needs to protect privacy, trust and encryption if you want to safeguard the future of the digital sovereignty of the block and lead in the global digital economy.
This is the warning from the technology sector of Europe, which urges legislators to reject the controversial bill for the regulation of child sexual abuse (CSAR).
More than 40 companies have signed an open letter today, on October 7, a week before a crucial meeting scheduled for October 14. Signatories include some of the The best VPN and encryption messaging services, such as Proton, Nordvpn, Tuta and Element.
Nicknamed chat control, the initiative seeks to introduce an obligation for all messaging applications that operate in Europe to scan all URLs, images and videos shared by its users in the consultation of the child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The last iteration of the proposal, which presented the Danish presidency last July, has never been closer to reaching an agreement.
Crucially, this mandatory scan is expected to occur directly on the device and, in the case of encrypted applications, before the messages are encrypted. A requirement that, according to experts, they face the way in which the encryption works and that could finally lead to weakened security for all.
The digital economy of Europe at stake
The risk of breaking the encryption has been the main objection to the proposal from the beginning.
Before an increase in cyber attacks, world authorities have increasingly recognized the importance of this technology. In the open letter to the EU, experts explain what measures such as the Cybernetic Resilience Law and the Cybersecurity Law emphasize the importance of encryption as essential for the future of Europe.
“It is incoherent that Europe invests in cybersecurity with one hand, while legislating against it with the other,” says the open letter. “To lead the global digital economy, the EU must protect privacy, trust and encryption.”
Today, in Tuta we join with European technology companies @ecosia @nextclouders @protonprivacy @Eudigittsme @Surfshark @Wetellmobilfunk to call EU member states: 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 Vote on chat control! 🚨 Read our open letter: 👉 pic.twitter.com/xebkmuny8dOctober 7, 2025
European technology companies are especially concerned about the future of the digital sovereignty of the block, which believe it is essential to guarantee the independence of Europe of US and Chinese technological giants, as well as a strong national security.
Technologists, cryptographers and digital rights activists have long argued that this scan on the client’s side would create a back door in safe communications that the hostile government or other malicious actors could also explode.
That is exactly the reason why the Danish proposal exempts all government and military accounts of CSAM mandatory scan. An exemption that the signatories believe that it is not enough to protect national security.
They said: “A lot of confidential information of companies, politicians and citizens will be at risk if the regulation of CSA progress will weaken the capacity of Europe to protect their critical infrastructure, their companies and their people.”
This is the reason why companies joined forces to urge legislators to reject any measure “that forces the scanning implementation of the client side, rear doors or massive vigilance of private communications”, in favor of proportional measures of child protection.
Decisive moments
With just a few days they remain ahead of the next crucial meeting, Germany continues to leave worried chat critics.
The country is considered a decisive vote. However, the government has Recently displaced positions, going from the opposition to the undecided list again, according to the latest data.
Now, according to Patrick Breyer, former Eurodiputa of the German Pyrado Party and the Digital Rights lawyer, the Federal Interior Ministry led by CSU is trying to force the German Federal Ministry of Justice (SPD) to approve the controversial chat control of the EU for today (October 7).
The Email Service based in Germany, Tuta, has confirmed to Techradar that the German ministers (Interior and Justice) meet today to end the position of the country, since the Ministry of Interior is trying to convince the justice to accept chat control.
“The digital protest about this is quite noisy in Germany at this time, adding the lyrics of the SME Open, we could actually have the opportunity for Germany to remain firm with its pro-private position it had in the past,” Tuta told Techradar.
This also adds to the promise from Meredith Whittaker, president of the Foundation of Signal without profit, urging all German citizens to “let German politicians know how harmful, counterproductive and self-sabotage would be their reversal.”
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