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EU Chat Control Extension Threatens Encrypted Crypto Wallets
In a 331-304 vote, EU lawmakers fast-tracked a chat control extension that could force content scanning on encrypted crypto wallets and decentralized messaging apps. Thursday's final vote will decide.
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European Union lawmakers voted Tuesday to reopen a temporary framework that requires online platforms to scan private messages for child sexual abuse material. The European Parliament approved an urgent procedure by a 331-304 vote, scheduling a final vote for Thursday. If passed, the framework would extend until 2028 while negotiations on a permanent law continue.
Pirate Party lawmaker Markéta Gregorová said the decision revived a proposal Parliament had already rejected earlier this year. She argued that using the urgent procedure to revisit it was unprecedented. Under the new process, opponents need 361 votes to reject or amend the extension, making Thursday's vote a tougher threshold than the March rejection, which followed proposed amendments that narrowed the scope of message scanning.
The proposal returned after the European People's Party, the Parliament's largest group, backed another attempt to extend the rules. Party leader Manfred Weber had been looking for a way to advance the measure without the amendments that contributed to its earlier rejection, according to Euronews. EU member states separately agreed last month to restore an interim version of the framework that would allow service providers to detect and report child sexual abuse material until 2028.
Since the previous legal basis expired in April, messaging platforms like WhatsApp have continued detection efforts voluntarily instead of under the EU framework.