Subj : Signal slams EU chat cont
To : All
From : Mike Powell
Date : Mon Oct 06 2025 09:56 am
Chat Control is "like a malware on your device" Signal slams the EU proposal
to scan your private chats
Date:
Mon, 06 Oct 2025 09:00:04 +0000
Description:
Signa said it could leave Europe instead of weakening encryption if the
controversial Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) proposal were to pass.
FULL STORY
Secure encrypted messaging app Signal said that the EU proposal to scan all
citizens' private messages would work as targeted spyware.
What's been nicknamed by its critics, Chat Control, is the European
Commission's response to online child safety. As per the latest iteration of
the text, all messaging platforms operating in the EU would be obliged to
scan all URLs, pictures, and videos shared by their users in the lookout for
child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
This mandatory scanning is expected to occur directly on the device and, in
the case of encrypted apps, before messages are encrypted. A requirement
that, according to Signal , cannot be compatible with how encryption works.
"Apart from the legal bit, that's exactly how malware works. It compromises
your device in order to gain access to information," said Signals
vice-president for global affairs, Udbhav Tiwari.
"Very simply put, the idea that a device will scan content before it is
encrypted for us negates the very purpose of encryption."
First unveiled in 2022, the EU has never been closer to agreeing to the Child
Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) proposal, with a crucial meeting set for
October 14.
Signal could leave Europe
Signal has repeatedly said that if a requirement to create an encryption
backdoor were to become law, the company would rather leave that market than
weaken encryption. A position that Meredith Whittaker, President of the
non-profit Signal Foundation, behind the encrypted service, recently
reiterated to a German news outlet .
Speaking during an online event organized by the European Greens Party,
Tiwari also confirmed that there are no plans "to make two versions of
Signal." One that does client-side scanning and one that doesn't.
"For Signal, this is an existential catastrophic risk for providing our
services in the European Union. It would negate the primary promises to our
users, and I think that's a risk that many people are going to face," he
said.
Signal and other experts have long argued that client-side scanning would
break encryption protection, which is used by the best VPN and other
encrypted apps to protect your data from unauthorized access. Ultimately,
this will also create a vulnerable endpoint that malicious actors can
exploit, too.
Germany: the deciding factor
Ahead of a crucial Chat Control meeting set for October 14 , Germany remains
a decisive vote. Yet, the government continues to send mixed messages.
Germany is among the countries that have been shifting their positions ahead
of the important day, in fact. After joining the countries opposing mandatory
chat scanning in September, the nation is now among the undecided countries
again, according to the latest data .
This is why Whittaker urges German citizens to "let German politicians know
how harmful, counterproductive, and self-sabotaging their reversal would be."
Signal is certainly not alone in feeling this way. Cryptographers,
technologists, digital rights experts, and even some politicians have long
warned against the implications such a scanning of all citizens' confidential
chats will have for their privacy and security.
Some European government bodies, including those of Sweden and the
Netherlands , have also deemed the deployment of so-called client-side
scanning on all devices an unacceptable cybersecurity risk to national
security. The outcry pushed Chat Control lawmakers to add a provision
excluding all governments and military accounts. Evidently, though, the risk
is worth it for all of us.
According to Tiwari, continuing to push for mandatory scanning regardless of
the risks is ultimately a "slippery slope with global consequences." What
will start with CSAM scanning could extend to terrorism, intellectual
properties, and, who knows, what else. A capability that could also give a
new and more disruptive way for authoritarian governments to restrict their
citizens' rights.
"There are global consequences to building these technological capabilities.
We should very strongly push back against it because if that ends up being
implemented, we would have crossed a threshold from which I don't think we
will be able to come back as a society."
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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/chat-control-is-like-a-malw
are-on-your-device-signal-slams-the-eu-proposal-to-scan-your-private-chats
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