EU Parliament Extends Chat Control Mass Surveillance to 2028 as 314 MEPs Fail to End Regime

- Absolute majority not reached to repeal Chat Control, continuing message scanning on major tech platforms - Privacy advocates and industry leaders condemn decision, citing risks to digital rights On July 9, 2026, Euractiv reported that the European Parliament voted to extend the "Chat Control 1.0" regime until at least 2028, and the report noted that the regime mandates mass scanning of private messages on platforms like Instagram, Discord, and Gmail. According to Euractiv on July 9, 2026, 314 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) opposed the measure, outnumbering those who supported it, but procedural rules required an absolute majority to repeal the regime. As a result, only 276 MEPs voted in favor of repeal and 17 abstained, so the attempt to end mass surveillance failed. Euractiv further reported on July 9, 2026, that the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) led efforts to maintain the current surveillance framework, with decisive support from Parliamentary President Roberta Metsola. The vote’s outcome immediately drew criticism from digital rights groups and technology industry figures, and they warned of grave privacy risks and the dangers of enabling backdoors into private communications. On July 9, 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and several prominent privacy advocates were cited in Euractiv’s coverage describing the extended policy as "mass surveillance," and they highlighted concerns that procedural hurdles and political maneuvering had overridden growing opposition within Parliament. Much of the parliamentary debate, according to Euractiv on the same day, focused on balancing child protection initiatives with fundamental rights to privacy. Meanwhile, Euractiv reported on July 9, 2026, that negotiations for a permanent replacement—known as "Chat Control 2.0"—are set to resume in September 2026, and this keeps the future of digital communications oversight a live issue in the EU policy agenda.