Excerpts from Signal’s post in response to E.U.’s Chat Control Policy Proposal¹

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal.

Under the guise of protecting children, the latest Chat Control proposals would require mass scanning of every message, photo, and video on a person’s device, assessing these via a government-mandated database or AI model to determine whether they are permissible content or not.

These proposals ignore the strategic importance of private communications, and the longstanding technical consensus that you cannot create a backdoor that only lets the “good guys” in.

Signal shares a research paper on the dangers of client side scanning²

we were given a choice between building a surveillance machine into Signal or leaving the market, we would leave the market.

We urge Germany to be wise and to stand firm in its principles. We cannot let history repeat itself, this time with bigger databases and much much more sensitive data.

References:

~ updated at: 2025-10-04T02:40:15.003Z