- Germany intends to vote against controversial Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR)
- So-called Chat Control would introduce mandatory scanning of citizens’ private chats, raising concerns about privacy and security.
- German Federal Justice Minister said random chat monitoring must remain taboo
It’s official: Germany votes against the controversial Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR).
Chat Control seeks to introduce an obligation for all messaging apps operating in Europe to scan all URLs, images and videos shared by their users for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
However, the proposal has attracted heavy criticism over privacy and security implications.
On Wednesday (October 7, 2025), German Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said that Random chat monitoring must remain taboo in a constitutional State. For this reason, “Germany will not accept proposals of this type at EU level,” Hubig said.
However, the German government reiterated the need to make progress in the fight against child pornography at EU level.
“I am committed to this. But even the worst crimes do not justify the renunciation of fundamental civil rights,” Hubig added.
“A great victory for digital privacy”
The announcements come after weeks of conflicting messages from the German government, just before a crucial meeting scheduled for October 14.
After joining the countries Opposing mandatory chat scanning in September, the nation was among countries that had been changing its position ahead of the important day when it returned to the undecided list.
The country was thought to be a decisive nation and the CSU-led Federal Ministry of the Interior reportedly pressured the German Federal Ministry of Justice (SPD) to support the law.
Massenhaftes Scannen privater Nachrichten muss in einem Rechtsstaat tabu sein. “Solchen Vorschlägen wird Deutschland auf EU-Ebene nicht zustimmen,” said Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/74cWYOy9TXOctober 8, 2025
Many have welcomed the decision to reject Chat Control.
Former German Pirate Party MEP and digital rights jurist Patrick Breyer considers this measure “a great victory for digital privacy.”
In fact, encryption is the technology used by companies like Signal, WhatsApp, Proton Mail, and even the best VPNs to encode the content of our messages into an unreadable format to prevent unauthorized access and keep our communications private and secure.
“This is a tremendous victory for freedom and shows that protest works,” Breyer said. “But the threat has not disappeared. The defenders of Chat Control will use every trick possible and will not give up easily.”
On a similar note, Internet Society Senior Director of European Regulatory and Government Affairs David Frautschy told TechRadar: “The Danish proposal remains on the table, and its central flaw remains unchanged: It would require client-side scanning of everyone’s private messages, analyzing the images on the sender’s device before encryption.”
Indeed, the EU Council will meet with the EU Minister of Justice on 14 October. What was previously thought to be just a formal approval would now decide whether or not the proposal will reach Parliament for final trilogue negotiations.
Privacy advocates, however, said they are willing to continue fighting any plans to weaken encryption.
“We will continue to fight until this proposal is defeated once and for all and the privacy of our digital lives is secure for all,” Breyer said. “Now is the time to support the civil rights organizations that made this victory possible, so we are prepared for the fight ahead.”
