EU Message Scanning System Live, End-to-End Encryption Next in Line
The European Union's message scanning system is already live and has been since July 2026, when lawmakers extended a derogation to the ePrivacy directive until April 2028.
Vyara Savova, senior policy lead at the European Ethereum Institute, warns that end-to-end encryption could be next in line for scanning. She notes that while most large platforms use voluntary scanning, which allows providers to scan messages voluntarily for specific content, this still requires checking the whole message.
This distinction matters because apps that use end-to-end encryption cannot comply with the same logic. Providers would first have to decrypt the traffic, making the debate no longer stop at content moderation, but rather at cybersecurity risks.
Savova frames the direction of travel bluntly: 'I would say people should already be worried, but it... has the potential to get much worse.'