'Chat control': The EU's controversial CSAM-scanning legal proposal explained | TechCrunch

EU plan to combat child abuse is threatening to downgrade privacy of hundreds of millions of regional messaging app users.

Critics of the proposal argue it would lead to a situation where messaging platforms are forced to use imperfect technologies to scan users’ private correspondence by default.

They also warn it puts the EU on a collision course with strong encryption because the law would force end-to-end encrypted apps to degrade their security.

None of the measures the EU has drafted would have the intended effect of preventing child abuse, opponents of the proposal contend.

Instead the impact they predict is horrible knock-on consequences for app users as the private communications of millions of Europeans are exposed to imperfect scanning algorithms.

This prospect could leave people in the EU without access to apps that use gold standard E2EE security protocols.

Under that scenario, messaging app users in the EU would essentially be forced to choose between protecting their privacy or having a modern messaging app experience.

Anyone opting for privacy would be downgraded to a basic dumbphone-style feature set of text and audio only.

Users who did not agree to the screening would have key features of their app disabled, meaning they would not be able to send images or URLs.