Chat Control is thus a bill that has been attempted to be pushed through the European Union since 2023 (PDF).
The core of the bill is that all message encryption should be banned throughout the entire European Union.
This means WhatsApp messages could no longer be encrypted in such a way that they could be deemed secure. The same would apply to emails, Signal, and any other message traffic.
The initiative is justified by its supporters, like practically all other ideas that strongly infringe on people's fundamental rights, with the so-called "think of the children...!" argument.
In this case, the privacy-destroying legislative initiative has been disguised as protecting children, by stating that it helps authorities prevent and investigate online child sexual abuse. The more official name of the legislative initiative is the CSAM Regulation Proposal, where CSAM stands for child sexual abuse material.
But because the legislative initiative would so fundamentally destroy people's right to privacy, the initiative has failed time and again in the gears of European Union decision-making.
Perhaps the most fundamental problem with the legislative initiative is, of course, that it would ban strong encryption for all Europeans - but the idea is inherently absurd, because criminals would simply use applications where strong encryption still exists, even if those applications were illega. In other words, the bill would achieve nothing from the perspective of child protection - but would at the same time destroy ordinary people's right to privacy.
In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights also has a stand on the issue, as the court has stated that strong encryption is a fundamental right of European Union citizens that cannot be removed by legislation.
Save the Children Finland starts lobbying
However, in Finland, the local Save the Children organization is apparently dissatisfied that the legislative initiative did not pass. The organization has launched a major campaign in recent days, collecting signatures for a petition to launch a new legislative initiative, similar to the original (or one of the variations of) Chat Control bill, at the EU level.
Their demand states the following:
Right now, there is no legislation in the EU that would enable the comprehensive detection of online child sexual abuse. At the beginning of April, the EU decided not to extend the temporary regulation that had allowed companies to detect child sexual abuse on their platforms.
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The temporary regulation was intended as an interim solution until the EU could finalize permanent legislation to protect children online. However, no agreement on permanent legislation was reached before the regulation expired in early April 2026.
Although negotiations on permanent legislation are still ongoing, there is no clear timeline or guarantee for its completion.
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We call on the European Union to take immediate action to fulfill its obligations and address the gaps in legislation in order to protect children from sexual abuse online.
The organization appeals to the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child and to a statement from the Finland's National Bureau of Investigation that encrypted message traffic complicates the investigation of crimes against children.
The National Bureau of Investigation's stance strongly follows Europol's stance. However, it is good to remember that Europol was caught a few years ago with a plan where, if Chat Control would come into force, it would start collecting absolutely all messages sent by citizens to each other. You know, just in case - without any criminal suspicions.
Save the Children Finland has sent (in Finnish) an email to its monthly donors, in which it frightens concerned parents and offers a convenient link where one can sign a petition in favor of a new Chat Control law.
The organization highlights the same petition as the most important topic on its entire front page, where the only topic seen by a reader navigating to the organization's pages with a browser is specifically related to the petition for the new Chat Control law.
And it seems that the organization has been quite successful so far, as it has already managed to gather over 5,000 signatures (situation on 21.4.2026, 21:30) and the target for the petition has been set at 10,000 signatures.
The progress of the Chat Control law is closely monitored on the opposing Fight Chat Control page, which also has instructions for citizens about their possibilities to influence the issue.
Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 21 Apr 2026 15:02
