The European Parliament relaunches the vote on the control of private messages

The soap opera of control of private messages is experiencing a new twist. After a rejection in March, it is indeed back at the heart of the debates. This Thursday, July 9, the European Parliament must vote again on the extension of the Chat Control system. Enough to revive concerns around the confidentiality of private messages and the future of encryption in Europe. We’ll tell you more in the next paragraphs!

The debate around Chat Control reaches a new milestone in Brussels

Commonly called “Chat Control 1.0”this European law allowed tech giants to voluntarily analyze communications. More concretely, this legal framework authorized messaging platforms to detect child criminal content.

Chat Control 1.0 has expired April 3, 2026after the rejection of an extension by MEPs by a single vote in March. The result of the vote:

• 311 votes against;
• 228 for;
• 92 abstentions.

Since this date, services like WhatsApp and Messenger continue to act on a strictly voluntary basis (outside any legal framework).

Tuesday July 7, 2026, a dramatic twist! THE European Parliament validates the use of a rarely used emergency procedure. It modifies the usual parliamentary rules. Supported by the European People’s Party (EPP) as well as several member states, the vote obtained 331 votes to 304 with 11 abstentions.

Opponents denounce a calling into question of the previous election. Supporters of the text believe that it is essential to avoid a legal vacuum after the expiration of the exemption provided for by the ePrivacy regulation. For his part, the president of the EPP group Manfred Weber has been seeking for several weeks a way to pass the text without modification, with the support of the EU Council. The latter validated a compromise version in early July.

The crucial point of this new episode lies in the voting rules themselves

Generally, a simple majority would have been sufficient to reject or amend the proposal on control of private messages. The Chat Control 1.0 file is however examined at second reading. This means that an absolute majority of 361 votes out of 720 MEPs is required to adopt it.

According to some analysts, this procedure offers a considerable advantage to the supporters of the text. Especially since the vote takes place during the last plenary session before the summer break. This period was characterized by extremely high parliamentary absenteeism.

MEP Markéta Gregorová, negotiator for the Greens/EFA on this issue, strongly criticized this maneuver:

This vote violates our own procedural rules.

She accuses the EPP of abusing its position as the leading political group to resuscitate a text already rejected by MEPs.

Four European commissioners, for their part, sent a letter to parliamentarians before Tuesday’s vote. They emphasize the risks of a persistent regulatory void for the detection of online abuse.

The debate on Chat Control opposes two logics that are difficult to reconcile

THE Chat Control 1.0 folder opposes two very distinct entities:

• the institutions, the European Commission and part of the Council
• defenders of digital freedoms

The former believe that current voluntary measures are not enough to combat the dissemination of child abuse material. The fact is that some service providers are less involved than others in detecting this content. According to them, the absence of a harmonized legal framework would therefore create blind spots exploited by offenders.

The latter denounce a mass surveillance system that is disproportionate and potentially incompatible with respect for private life guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The main sticking point? The impact of the text on end-to-end encryption. This technology protects exchanges on applications like Signal and WhatsApp. Cybersecurity experts and researchers have repeatedly warned about the high false positive rates of automated detection tools. A risk that fuels opposition to the extension of Chat Control!

What consequences for platforms and users?

If the extension of Chat Control is confirmed on Thursday, the exemption regime from the ePrivacy directive would be extended until 2028. This would allow service providers to detect, report and remove child criminal content on a voluntary basis. Companies like Meta, Google and Microsoft could thus resume detection practices currently carried out outside of any legal net since April.

For European users, the issue directly affects the confidentiality of their daily digital exchanges. This concerns both consumer messaging and professional services.

Proponents of an alternative approach argue for a paradigm shift. This is particularly the case of former MEP Patrick Breyer. According to him, the ideal would be to target investigations on users already suspected and under judicial supervision rather than imposing generalized scanning of communications.

This targeted approach remains at the heart of the negotiations on the future permanent regulation against sexual abuse of minors. Still under discussion since 2022, the file was named “Chat Control 2.0”.

Towards permanent control of private messages?

Thursday’s vote in no way closes the Chat Control file. In fact, this is a transitional measure. The current procedure would allow European institutions to negotiate a lasting text governing the detection of online abuse.

There question of digital privacy facing the imperatives of child protection will therefore remain at the center of discussions in Brussels in the coming months. But we can already expect potential repercussions beyond the telecommunications sector. We are essentially referring to the ecosystem of decentralized technologies and encrypted messaging used in the crypto sphere.

In any case, Thursday’s vote on the control of private messages illustrates the persistent tensions between security and digital freedoms in Europe. Beyond this transitional text, the entire future of encryption and online confidentiality is being played out in Brussels. File to follow…