EU Parliament to vote again on ‘chat control’ extension

Lawmakers in the European Parliament will vote on Thursday on whether to extend an interim “chat control” legal framework. The rule would allow online service providers to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse material, including by scanning private messages and content within end-to-end encrypted services.

On Tuesday, Parliament used a rarely used urgent procedure to fast-track the issue, approving that step by 331 votes to 304 with 11 abstentions. The urgent vote sets the Thursday plenary decision on extending a derogation that expired in early April. Rejecting or amending the proposal at Thursday’s plenary will require an absolute majority of 361 votes.

In March, Parliament rejected a temporary extension while a new law was being negotiated; that vote was 311 against, 228 for and 92 abstentions. EU member states agreed last month to reinstate an interim measure that would keep the detection and reporting regime in place until 2028 if Parliament approves the extension.

The revival of the proposal was led by the European People’s Party, which is seeking to advance the extension without the amendments that narrowed the scope of scans in March.

Pirate Party MEP Markéta Gregorová criticized the fast-tracking and the EPP’s handling of the dossier, writing: “Today’s vote violates our own rules of procedure, the European Parliament decided to use an urgent procedure for Chat Control 1.0.” She later described the EPP’s actions as “unprecedented” and accused the group of using its position to bring back a proposal Parliament had already rejected.

Privacy advocates, digital security experts and cryptographers have opposed the approach because scanning private communications could weaken end-to-end encryption or prompt providers to adopt client-side scanning. Supporters of the interim measure say it is needed to detect and remove abusive material quickly and to give law enforcement and platforms tools to protect users.

If Parliament approves the extension on Thursday, service providers would be legally authorized to continue scanning and reporting suspected abuse material under the interim rules until a broader legal framework is finalized. If the extension is rejected, the interim legal basis for mandatory scanning would lapse and platforms would remain limited to voluntary measures.