Europe's Chat Control Zombie: Parliament Rushes to Revive Private Message Scanning

The European Parliament fast-tracks a controversial bill to resurrect expired private message scanning powers, with a binding vote set for July 9.

The European Parliament has voted to fast-track legislation that would revive expired rules allowing online platforms to scan private messages for child sexual abuse material. The procedural vote — 331 in favor, 304 against — bypasses the usual committee stage and sets up a decisive binding vote on Thursday, July 9.

The proposal resurrects Regulation 2021/1232, a temporary measure that lapsed in April. It created an exemption to the ePrivacy Directive, letting services like Gmail, Facebook Messenger, and Skype voluntarily scan user communications. End-to-end encrypted services were mostly unaffected — unless providers chose to implement client-side scanning.

Critics see the urgency procedure as an end-run around Parliament's earlier rejection. Former Pirate Party MEP Patrick Breyer called it an unprecedented attempt to resurrect legislation the Parliament had already turned down. The Council's own Legal Service reportedly warned in June that even "voluntary" scanning may conflict with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

This is separate from "Chat Control 2.0," the permanent Child Sexual Abuse Regulation stuck in trilogue negotiations since 2022. The EU is now running two parallel legislative tracks — one to temporarily restore the expired scanning regime, the other to establish a permanent framework that could mandate suspicionless scanning of encrypted communications.

Opponents need 361 votes in Thursday's session to block or amend the proposal. If they fall short, the Council's text proceeds without additional safeguards.

Sources: CyberInsider — Hacker News discussion