Parliament must act now to stop mass snooping
The European Parliament faces a decision on whether to approve a second extension of the interim ePrivacy derogation 2025/0429(COD), with trilogue negotiations anticipated to commence in early Spring 2026. Commonly known as "Chat Control 1.0", this derogation temporarily suspends the fundamental privacy protections that EU law ordinarily guarantees. These protections exist to shield citizens from indiscriminate surveillance in both their digital and offline private spheres.
MEPs must move swiftly to prevent the continuation of blanket surveillance targeting private messages, according to civil society advocates.
When the Commission first extended this measure, it drew substantial opposition within Parliament. The resulting parliamentary position explicitly stated that following the initial extension, the derogation "shall elapse permanently".
Should lawmakers approve another extension, technology corporations would retain authority to examine vast quantities of private communications—including chats, emails and social media content—belonging to EU residents. When such companies identify suspected abuse material, they transmit it to a facility based in the United States, which subsequently distributes the material to law enforcement bodies in both the US and EU.
EDRi and 39 partner organisations are calling on Members of the European Parliament to reject any prolongation of the interim ePrivacy derogation unless it incorporates three critical safeguards: an explicit prohibition on mass surveillance (excluding any indiscriminate or untargeted examination), a stringent accuracy requirement (preventing scanning for 'new' or 'unknown' material), and a firm time restriction limiting the measure to a single year maximum.
Source: EDRi (European Digital Rights)
