The Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS) welcomes the recent historic decision by the European Parliament to end the indiscriminate scanning of private digital communications, commonly known as “Chat Control.” With the interim regulation expiring, major tech companies must immediately halt mass surveillance of private messages for EU users.
This outcome—decided by a single decisive vote—is also a significant victory for CEPIS, which has opposed Chat Control since its inception on technical, legal, and ethical grounds.
CEPIS President, Luis Fernandez-Sanz, stated: “The vote confirms what CEPIS has consistently argued: blanket surveillance is incompatible with European values and fundamental rights. We are proud that our expertise and persistent advocacy helped steer policymakers toward a safer, more proportionate approach to child protection.”
Chair of the CEPIS Legal and Security Issues Expert Group, Kai Rannenberg, added: “Our expert group has long demonstrated that these scanning technologies are unreliable, privacy‑intrusive, and technically unsound. Parliament’s decision reflects a clear understanding of the evidence. It is a win for security, digital trust, and the rule of law.”
Throughout the legislative process, CEPIS provided detailed technical assessments, engaged directly with MEPs and Commission officials, and highlighted the risks of false positives, weakened encryption, and misuse of opaque foreign databases. The expertise of the CEPIS Legal and Security Issues expert group was repeatedly cited in discussions, reinforcing CEPIS’s growing influence as a trusted voice in digital policy.
With mass scanning now ending, CEPIS supports the Parliament’s push toward modern, evidence‑based measures, including:
- Security‑by‑Design to prevent grooming at the technical level
- Targeted, warrant‑based surveillance
- Proactive removal of illegal content at the source
Despite this milestone, the debate is far from over. Negotiations on a permanent regulation — widely referred to as “Chat Control 2.0”— are ongoing under intense political pressure. Meanwhile, proposals for mandatory age verification on messaging services and app stores threaten to undermine anonymity online and introduce new risks for vulnerable populations, including whistleblowers and victims of abuse.
CEPIS has pledged to continue monitoring the negotiations and defending digital rights across Europe. The organisation’s renewed visibility and increased credibility following this victory position it as a key stakeholder in the next phase of the debate.
Up-to-date developments can be found on the Fight Chat Control website.
