"The EU Council has just greenlit a new “chat control” mandate, effectively signing a blank check for mass surveillance draped in the language of child protection. This time, it drops the explicit obligation for companies to scan all private messages but quietly introduces what opponents describe as an indirect system of pressure. It rewards or penalizes online services depending on whether they agree to carry out ‘voluntary’ scanning, effectively making intrusive monitoring a business expectation rather than a legal requirement.

This isn’t a slippery slope; it’s a lubricated slide into a panopticon."