Brussels, 09 October 2025 (WAL) – The member states of the European Union have once again failed to reach a consensus on a controversial legislative proposal known in the media as “Chat Control,” aimed at combating the spread of child pornography online.

The compromise proposal presented by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union did not receive sufficient support from member states, preventing it from being put to a vote at the upcoming meeting of the EU interior ministers.

Despite this setback, the file has not been closed definitively, as the possibility remains for Denmark or any future presidency of the European Council to present a revised version of the proposal, keeping the debate open in European political circles.

EU ambassadors held a meeting last Wednesday evening to discuss the draft law, which the European Commission proposed three years ago. It would require encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal to scan private messages, including images, videos, and links, to detect content potentially related to child sexual exploitation.

The proposal has sparked widespread criticism, with privacy advocates warning that it could pave the way for broad mass surveillance, while several digital communication service providers have strongly rejected the project. For example, the encrypted messaging service Signal threatened to withdraw from the European market if the law is passed in its current form.

While some governments emphasize the need to protect children in the digital space, others stress that preserving user privacy is equally important, making it extremely complex to achieve an acceptable legislative balance.