Overview
- MEPs voted Thursday to block an extension of the EU’s e‑privacy waiver, with 311 against, 228 in favor, and 92 abstaining.
- The temporary framework that let platforms scan private messages for child abuse content now ends next week, halting company-run checks in the EU.
- Police can still read private messages when they have a court warrant, which keeps targeted investigations in place.
- The Commission’s longer-term plan, known as Chat Control 2.0, would require client-side scanning on users’ devices before encryption, a step critics and companies like Signal say would break the core promise of end-to-end encryption.
- Talks on a permanent law continue between EU institutions, and a revised mandate could return within about a year, keeping the fight over on-device scanning alive.