Chat control: WhatsApp and Threema comment more than a signal

At Signal, the name was the program last week: If the European Union introduces its plans for chat control, the trade fair service will withdraw from the EU. This signal to the decision-makers-the EU Commission is known to belong to the group of users-was unmistakable. Now with statements from the WhatsApp and Threema messenger services, further impulses are followed. However, both express themselves much more reluctantly on the question of how they would deal with it if the monitoring obligation really comes.

A meta spokeswoman said netzpolitik.orgthat the new proposal of the Danish EU presidency, despite the opposite claims, still undermines end-to-end encryption. He endangers privacy, freedom and digital security for everyone. WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart demanded the EU countries in an X-post on“to work for more security for your citizens and to reject the proposal”.

Threema checks all options

The Swiss messenger service operator Threema leaves in blog posts on his side There is no doubt that the planned chat control is considered incompatible with your own beliefs for data security. If the chat control comes, all options will be checked thoroughly, according to a current statement. However, the Swiss are still confident that the current plans are not compatible with the EU’s fundamental rights and are therefore not withstanding in court.

The planned chat control of the EU is about finding representations of child abuse and combating abuse more effectively. The operators of messengers and cloud services should be obliged to check chat messages and uploaded files on the devices of the users. This so-called client-side scanning is viewed by critics to undermine the end-to-end encryption. These wanted security gaps could easily be misused for other purposes.

The Danish Presidency of Council has pushed the topic again. Germany had previously spoken out against chat control. In order for it to come, at least 55 percent of Member States (15 out of 27) would have to agree. These would also have to represent 65 percent of the EU population.

CCC: “An unchanged disaster”

The Chaos Computer Club calls the plans for chat control an “unchanged disaster for any confidential communication”. In a blog post the activists criticize that the federal government is unable to refuse whether it will oppose the “dangerous tarpaulin.” The idea of ​​scanning texts, pictures and films in chats is “wrong, dangerous and also prone to errors”. The current proposal of the Danish Presidency includes all problematic measures that have so far not been approved in the EU, writes the CCC.

“If such a law for chat control is launched, we not only pay for the loss of our privacy. We also open the door and gate for attacks on safe communication infrastructure,” says Elina Eickstädt, spokeswoman for the Chaos Computer Club. Other NGOs also appeal to the federal government to stay with their no to chat control.