Overview

• Under the Danish Council Presidency, a draft would require client‑side scanning of private messages on users' devices to detect child sexual abuse material.
• Signal has warned it would leave the European market rather than weaken end‑to‑end encryption to comply with mandated scanning.
• A Meta spokesperson said the latest Council proposal still undermines end‑to‑end encryption, and WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart urged EU countries to reject it.
• Threema declared opposition to any form of mass surveillance, said it would review options if a law passes, and argued the plan is unlikely to withstand EU fundamental‑rights scrutiny.
• Civil‑society groups including the Chaos Computer Club, D64 and EDRi warn of security backdoors, chilling effects and threats to press protections, and are mobilizing pressure on Berlin ahead of expected mid‑October Council deliberations.