- A new initiative led by Citizens can now help you say about the controversial draft of the EU (CSAM) EU (CSAM) (CSAM) scan law
- Experts are concerned about the negative impact that the bill will have on the privacy and security of citizens’ communications
- The Danish version of the so -called chat control could be adopted as soon as October 14, 2025
If you are in the EU, you can now take measures against the controversial draft law of child sexual abuse (CSAM), which is currently being discussed in the EU council, thanks to a new initiative directed by citizens.
Considered by critics as chat control, the proposal was presented for the first time in May 2022 to stop the propagation of CSAM content online scanning all communications, especially those that are encrypted.
A proposal that has attracted strong criticism and setback between experts and legislators equally, chat control has never been closer to passing. The Danish version of the bill could be adopted as soon as October 14, 2025.
“Our goal is to empower citizens with the knowledge they need to understand the implications of this legislation and encourage them to take measures contacting their elected representatives in the European Parliament and national governments,” explain people behind the Chat of Fight control initiative, launched on August 6.
The website includes easy to understand information about the CSAM scanning proposal, while tracking the positions of the EU member states and the EU representatives.
When addressing the Take Action tab, you can communicate with your country’s match in a couple of clicks to ask them to discard the controversial proposal. The website writes the message for you based on your concerns on the proposed law.
“We believe that privacy is a fundamental right, and that end -to -end encryption is essential to protect our personal communications, financial information and digital identities. The chat control proposal would undermine these protections, potentially exposing citizens to new safety and surveillance risks without significant benefits.”
What follows for European chats?
Since its first presentation in 2022, Chat’s control proposal has seen many turns and turns as defenders of privacy, technologists and even politicians expressed concerns. Concerns for which the Council has not found an agreement.
The most controversial point is encryption, the technology that the tastes of WhatsApp, Signal, email suppliers encrypted as protonmail and even the best VPN applications use to ensure that the content of your communications remains private of you and who you are talking with.
Over the years, the EU council has tried to find a commitment, without any success.
According to their first version, all messaging software providers should perform indiscriminate scanning of private messages to search CSAM. The reaction was strong, and the European Court of Human Rights proceeded to prohibit all legal efforts to weaken safe communications encryption in Europe.
In June 2024, Belgium proposed a new more compromising text to aim only photos, videos and URL shared, with the permission of users. In February 2025, Poland tried to find a better commitment making the encrypted chat scan volunteer and classified as “prevention.”
Fast progress until July 2025, Denmark reintroduced the control of Chat as a main legislative priority on his first day of the presidency, and presented a new commitment text, which formerly Eurodipped for the jurist of the German Pyerate Party and digital rights, Patrick Breyer, considered the “most radical version” so far.
Crucially, the impulse is growing between the EU member states that support the legislation. At the time of writing this article, according to the latest data from Fight Chat Control, 15 Member States support the law (including France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Ireland), nine are undecided (such as Estonia, Germany and Belgium), and only three oppose the bill in their current form (Austria, Netherlands and Pole).
On September 12, 2025, the Council is expected to share its final positions, with the vote established on October 14.
