EU Parliament Faces Third Vote on Reviving "Chat Control 1.0"

The European Parliament is set to vote next week, for the third time, on reviving "chat control 1.0". The measure is the EU's temporary derogation that allowed tech companies to voluntarily scan users' chat messages and other interpersonal communications at scale, primarily to detect child sexual abuse material. Parliament has rejected the revival twice.

The derogation expired in early April 2026 after negotiations between the European Parliament and EU member states over an extension broke down. Since then, providers have not been permitted to scan this traffic.

Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Snap responded by urging European policymakers to restore the measure. In the meantime, the companies say they are continuing "voluntary action" on the affected communication services. They have not said which services are involved or what that action looks like, a gap worth noting given the legal vacuum the scanning question now sits in.

F**k democracy

The revival attempt hinges on a legal maneuver. Expired EU legislation cannot simply be extended, so the Council plans to rewrite the original proposal, producing a new bill with identical content through an accelerated procedure.

Critics argue this route sidesteps democratic checks. German tech outlet Heise reports that the fast-track approach would mean no opinion from the European Data Protection Supervisor and no fresh assessment of the privacy intrusions involved. Heise also reports the proposal is being placed on the parliamentary agenda at speed in an effort to catch MEPs off guard and finally get it approved.

Patrick Breyer, a former MEP and long-time campaigner against message scanning, put it more bluntly on Mastodon, calling the move a "coup" and urging citizens to warn their MEPs immediately. He points to the timing, a week when many parliamentarians are on vacation, as evidence of intent. Breyer also says nearly all EU member states, including the Netherlands, support chat control 1.0, which is his assessment rather than an official tally.

Chat control 1.0 vs Chat control 2.0

Chat control 1.0 is often confused with chat control 2.0, the separate and far more contested proposal to make scanning mandatory. But the 1.0 fight matters in its own right. It sets the terms for whether voluntary mass-scanning of private communications is lawful in the EU at all, and the procedural route being used here, rewriting an expired law as a new-but-identical proposal on a compressed timeline, would set a precedent for how Brussels handles legislation that parliaments keep rejecting.

The vote also lands in the middle of a standoff between platform incentives and parliamentary resistance. Four of the largest communication providers want the legal cover back. Parliament has said no twice. A third vote scheduled during the holiday period will test whether that resistance holds when attendance thins