Signal opposes EU chat control law over message analysis

Encrypted messaging app Signal has opposed the EU’s proposal in the Chat Control law to scan messages on encrypted apps. Signal President Meredith Whittaker released an official company statement on X against the bill, saying “scanning is the same old surveillance with a new brand” and that it “undermines encryption” while “creating significant vulnerabilities”.

The Chat Control Act is part of the EU’s approach to tackling online child sexual abuse material, or CSAM. The bill was reworded after backlash from privacy experts and tech executives who warned about citizens’ privacy, saying people can now consent if material can be scanned before to be encrypted. But several others, like Whittaker, called the change purely cosmetic.

Another new change in the proposal is the “download moderation” provision under which content will be analyzed before being transmitted or encrypted, which critics say goes against the principle of encryption which implies the principle from start to finish. This could also potentially create new security vulnerabilities or backdoors that third parties could also exploit.

“Let’s be very clear, once again: mandating mass scanning of private communications fundamentally undermines encryption. Complete shutdown. Whether this happens by, say, altering the random number generation of an encryption algorithm, or by implementing a key escrow system, or by forcing communications to go through a monitoring system before they are not encrypted,” indicates the official press release published by Signal.

(For today’s top tech news, subscribe to our technology newsletter Today’s Cache)

Whittaker has repeatedly warned against implementing the proposal, saying Signal would leave the European market if it happened. “This proposition, if adopted and applied against us, would force us to make this choice. It’s surveillance wine in safety bottles,” she tweeted at X earlier on May 31.

Last year in September, the UK government delayed its online safety bill after a similar clause forcing tech companies to scan customers’ encrypted messages was criticized. Private messaging applications like Signal and WhatsApp then took the same position against the bill.