Chat Control: European Parliament approves mass scanning after last-minute manoeuvres

European Parliament approves mass chat scanning: the story of a defeat foretold

March 2026 was supposed to be the month when the EU finally buried Chat Control. On 11 March, the European Parliament approved by majority an extension of voluntary scanning until August 2027, but with strict limits: only for specific suspicious users, never in end-to-end encrypted chats, and only for material already known to be child sensual abuse. The trilogue negotiations between Parliament, Council and Commission failed on 16 March. Everything seemed headed for a definitive rejection.

The vote that left everyone cold
The final vote took place on 25 and 26 March. The extension was rejected by an extremely narrow margin: 311 votes against versus 228 in favour, or perhaps 307-306, depending on the source. The relief lasted hours. The conservatives of the EPP tried to repeat the vote with last-minute manoeuvres. And they succeeded: the scanning was extended, or definitively approved, depending on who you ask. The CSA regulation, known as Chat Control, allows authorities to order messaging services to scan communications for child abuse material, even in encrypted chats.

The absence trick
The ploy has a name: choosing the last day of the session before the summer recess, when half the chamber already has its bags packed. Absences count as votes in favour, and blocking the text requires an absolute majority of 361 votes, but to pass it, simply emptying the chamber is enough. Thus, an active minority managed to sneak through what the majority had rejected. "When a Parliament loses a vote, the answer should not be to change the rules until it wins", one analysis summed up.

What now?
The decision leaves the privacy of digital communications up in the air. The European data protection supervisors (EDPB-EDPS) had already warned of the risks and the lack of proportionality. Meanwhile, manufacturers of phones with unlockable bootloaders —OnePlus, Nothing, Google— are bracing for a surge in demand. The technical alternative: rooting the phone, removing Google apps and using P2P messaging with encryption. The closest thing to slavery, someone said. The unsettling detail: it is not even clear whether the extension is in force or not. The regulation moves forward, and the EU, of course, is protecting us.