“The plan to scan private messages isn’t just about child safety. It’s about power, control, and the slow death of online freedom,” furious Redditors warn.
Internet users are losing their minds over claims that the European Union is about to start scanning everyone’s private messages, sparking fears that Brussels will soon be able to access WhatsApp and Signal chats.
The outrage comes after the European Commission made a push to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Some of the proposed measures include letting governments scan messages to identify victims and stop illegal content from spreading.
Critics, however, aren’t reassured. They warn that scanning encrypted chats would have severe consequences to both security and privacy of millions using digital communication platforms.
Users across Europe are outraged
If Brussels thought internet users would just quietly accept “chat control,” they were dead wrong. On Reddit, users are tearing into the EU proposal with rage.
“The only place where this practice is normalized… is literal PRISON,”
said one commenter, drawing a comparison between surveillance on citizens and incarceration.
“What a fuckin Orwellian shill,” another shot back, highlighting the dystopian overreach of the proposal.
“Politicians should not be allowed to decide this stuff,” a third chimed in, echoing a growing distrust in those crafting the law.
Amid the outrage, some Redditors demanded accountability.
“We pay the, so we should be able to check their communications,”
one user insisted.
“I think we need a reverse chat control that makes it public wtf the politicians are doing, who is paying them, and what lobbyism is crawling around.”
“If they want to implement it for us, show us by example. Agree to have all their private communications screened first so that we can see what they're up to and start holding them accountable for whatever transgressions are found. Should be nothing to fear for them, surely,” added another.
Creating backdoors is dangerous
Redditors point out that one of the key threats of weakening encryption is not only allowing governments to get in. The created backdoors could be exploited by hackers, criminals, and foreign spies as well.
“Without encryption, criminals and foreign spies can also easily steal your data. And criminals have a very easy way to bypass it by just using non-EU secure services. If this passes, Europe will be made extremely vulnerable to hostile cyberattacks,” said one user.
Many doubt EU lawmakers even understand the basics of what they’re trying to legislate.
“Ridiculously stupid policy. Is there not a single cybersecurity expert hired by the EU to say that this is pants-on-head dumb?”
Trojan horse to mass surveillance
“Chat control allows the scanning of devices for undesirable material. But as you might guess, you can't selectively scan to find bad material – you need to scan everything,” another Redditor said.
This echoes the loudest fear, that chat control is a Trojan horse for mass censorship. Users worry that once private conversations are subject to scanning, democratic freedoms collapse and political powers can “control any discourse.”
“We all know that stuff like this will eventually lead to silencing people, imprisoning them on fake evidence, and so on, if they ever express any idea contrary to the current party in power, see places like North Korea, Russia, for a clear example,” explained one commenter.
Other describes chat privacy as a fundamental right that is threatened.
“Imagine the postal services opening every letter and scanning it and carrying a communication file on every person on the planet that sent a letter inside or to or from Denmark? Well, that’s the same thing.” According to commentators, the new control would oppose liberal EU values.
One Redditor summed up the frustration by asking why digital conversations are treated like a separate category of speech entirely.
“Why are electronic communications treated differently from real-life communications? I'm free to have a secret conversation face-to-face.”
“They aren't telling me to walk around with a wire just in case I say something criminal. Why does the internet have to be different? Because it's really the same shit, but through different means,” the Redditor added.
They continued by pointing out the absurdity of scanning messages when nobody is policing private conversations at home.
“I can literally spend the entire day locked in my house saying whatever the fuck I want to whoever lives with me… none of that is illegal, and none of that is spied on. So why must we be spied on when we're on our phones?”
The comment ended with a bleak observation.
“I don't have the same privileges online, but I have the same responsibilities. … Shouldn’t I be able to talk to anyone without being spied on, JUST LIKE IN REAL LIFE?”
Games of power
For many Redditors, the push for chat control isn’t really about child safety but more about money and power.
“Of course, there’s financial interest – it’s always about the money. Money is power,” one user wrote, arguing that governments and corporations want to track everything people do online because “there’s just so much to gain” from storing and mining that data.
“There's little to gain for us, though, being some commodity and becoming even lazier sheep in a herd of morons,” said one commentator.
Others see the law as part of a bigger play to lock people deeper into controlled tech ecosystems. One commenter warned that if chat control passes, it will happen “at an OS level for any phones sold in the EU,” making it nearly impossible to escape Apple’s or Google’s grip.
With Android sideloading bans, locked bootloaders, and shrinking options outside of mainstream devices, the whole thing starts to look less about safety and more about surveillance. That leaves users searching for alternatives, such as Linux phones, PGP encryption, or whatever scraps of digital autonomy they can cling to.
Still, some aren’t giving up.
“Get fucked, I’m gonna encrypt my messages no matter what,” one person declared, even if that means going old-school and using PGP just to send an emoji. Others are preparing for the worst, calling to prepare the tools to bypass the incoming regulations.
Politicians under fire
Opinions on the topic between politicians vary. Greek and French politicians at the European Parliament expressed their concerns regarding “widespread mass surveillance” and “respect of fundamental rights in the EU.”
However, not all governments are against the law. Fifteen EU countries currently support the proposal, including Denmark. When Denmark’s Minister of Justice went viral for allegedly claiming, “We must break with the totally erroneous perception that it is everyone’s civil liberty to communicate on encrypted messaging services,” another subreddit lit up with fury.
“Fuck this bastard. It’s a shame that people like these are the ones who do politics,” one commenter raged.
“He’s obviously not doing anything for the people, citizens. He’s either a fucking idiot or has a financial interest in the whole thing.”
The conversation on this topic is live. Join in the discussion.
Others mocked the hypocrisy.
“When he makes his private chats available to the public for the public to read, I’ll take him seriously,” one user quipped, while another asked bluntly: “What do you think he’s hiding?”
“He can go fuck himself. I heard Nepal has good ideas,” someone shot back, referring to the recent social unrest in Nepal, which sparked after the social media ban. Protests lead to dismissal of the government, with new representatives being elected on Discord.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are markedmarked