The EU just revived a law that lets Meta and Google scan your messages – critics call it mass surveillance

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In a nutshell: The European Parliament has spent the past several years grappling with whether to allow or compel platform holders to scan everyone's messages for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). A voluntary version of the law was in force from 2021 until April 2026 and was revived this week.

Europe's Parliament voted on Thursday to reinstate legislation that allows companies such as Google, Meta, and other digital communication providers to voluntarily scan messages, emails, photos, and other files for illegal content. Supporters and opponents have long argued over whether to make the practice mandatory.

The current law, introduced in 2021 and nicknamed Chat Control 1.0, enables email providers, social media platforms, and cloud services to check online communications for CSAM voluntarily. However, end-to-end-encrypted messaging services such as Signal and WhatsApp are exempt.