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+---- Thread: [EU] European Parliament approves mini-chat control (/showthread.php?tid=6328209)
European Parliament approves mini-chat control - Μinimalist - Jul 9, 2026
A motion to reject the extension failed to achieve the absolute majority needed in the second-reading procedure.
The European Parliament has voted to extend a temporary exception from EU privacy rules that permits online platforms to voluntarily scan for known child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The measure, often referred to in public debate as part of the broader “Chat Control” discussion, will now run until April 3, 2028.
The decision concerns the so-called ePrivacy derogation (sometimes labelled Chat Control 1.0), originally introduced in 2021 as Regulation (EU) 2021/1232.
It allows, but does not require, messaging services and platforms to scan communications for already-identified CSAM, primarily images and videos.
According to Patrick Breyer, a former MEP for the Pirate Party, US tech companies are once again allowed to scan private messages without a warrant or prior suspicion. This affects direct messages on platforms like Instagram, Discord, Snapchat and Xbox, as well as emails via Google’s Gmail and Apple’s iCloud.
A motion to reject the extension failed to achieve the absolute majority needed in the second-reading procedure.
It is worth noting that this vote relates only to the temporary, voluntary framework. It does not mandate scanning, does not require the breaking of end-to-end encryption, and does not give governments direct access to private messages.
True end-to-end encrypted services have not been subject to routine content scanning under these interim rules. Breyer said an exemption for encrypted communications had been adopted, though he called it symbolic because providers do not scan such traffic in any case.
The more controversial permanent Chat Control proposal pushed by Brussels (the full Child Sexual Abuse Regulation), which could impose broader obligations and has raised significant concerns about encryption and mass surveillance, continues to be negotiated separately in trilogues and has not (yet) been adopted.
The European Parliament has repeatedly emphasised the need for targeted, proportionate measures.
More: https://brusselssignal.eu/2026/07/european-parliament-approves-mini-chat-control/