- A new citizen-led initiative can now help you have your say about the controversial EU child sexual abuse (CSAM) scanning bill
- Experts are concerned about the negative impact the bill will have on citizens' communications privacy and security
- The Danish version of the so-called Chat Control could be adopted as early as October 14, 2025
If you're in the EU, you can now take action against the controversial child sexual abuse (CSAM) scanning bill, which is currently being discussed in the EU Council, thanks to a new citizen-led initiative.
Deemed by critics as Chat Control, the proposal was first unveiled in May 2022 to halt the spread of CSAM content online by scanning all communications, especially those that are encrypted.
A proposal that has attracted strong criticism and pushback among experts and lawmakers alike, Chat Control has never been closer to passing. The Danish version of the bill could be adopted as early as October 14, 2025.
"Our goal is to empower citizens with the knowledge they need to understand the implications of this legislation and to encourage them to take action by contacting their elected representatives in the European Parliament and national governments," explain the people behind the Fight Chat Control initiative, launched on August 6.
The website includes easy-to-understand information about the CSAM scanning proposal, while tracking the positions of EU Member States and EU representatives.
By heading to the Take Action tab, you can contact your country's MEPs within a couple of clicks to ask them to scrap the controversial proposal. The website drafts the message for you based on your concerns about the proposed law.
"We believe that privacy is a fundamental right, and that end-to-end encryption is essential for protecting our personal communications, financial information, and digital identities. The Chat Control proposal would undermine these protections, potentially exposing citizens to new security risks and surveillance without meaningful benefits."
What's next for Europeans' chats?
From its first unveiling in 2022, the Chat Control proposal has seen many twists and turns as privacy advocates, technologists, and even politicians raised concerns. Worries for which the Council has failed to find an agreement.
The most contentious point is around encryption, the technology that the likes of WhatsApp, Signal, encrypted email providers like ProtonMail, and even the best VPN apps use to ensure the content of your communications remains private from you and who you are talking to.
Over the years, the EU Council has tried to find a compromise – without any success.
As per its first version, all messaging software providers would be required to perform indiscriminate scanning of private messages to look for CSAM. The backlash was strong, with the European Court of Human Rights proceeding to ban all legal efforts to weaken the encryption of secure communications in Europe.
In June 2024, Belgium proposed a new, more compromising text to target only shared photos, videos, and URLs, with users' permission. In February 2025, Poland tried to find a better compromise by making encrypted chat scanning voluntary and classified as "prevention."
Fast-forward to July 2025, Denmark reintroduced Chat Control as a top legislative priority on its first day of Presidency, and put forward a new compromise text, which former MEP for the German Pirate Party and digital rights jurist, Patrick Breyer, deemed the "more radical version" so far.
Crucially, momentum is growing among EU member states backing up the legislation. At the time of writing, according to Fight Chat Control's latest data, 15 member states support the law (including France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Ireland), nine are undecided (such as Estonia, Germany, and Belgium), and only three oppose the bill in its current form (Austria, Netherlands, and Poland).
On September 12, 2025, the Council is expected to share its final positions, with the vote set to take place on October 14.
