Overview

• Signal says it would quit the European market rather than weaken end-to-end encryption, while WhatsApp and Threema publicly oppose the proposal.
• Under the plan, providers would scan messages, photos and videos on users’ devices before encryption to detect child sexual abuse material.
• The EU Council’s Legal Service has warned the draft is potentially unlawful, adding legal jeopardy to a politically fraught measure.
• Civil-society groups including the Chaos Computer Club, D64, Amnesty and press-freedom advocates argue the scheme threatens privacy, journalism and overall cybersecurity.
• Critics say the mandated detection tools are error‑prone, would flood authorities with false positives, and could be expanded to scrutinize other content beyond the stated child-protection goal.