The EU forced through full scans of email and messages. Now it's coming for encrypted texts too.



The European Union had a chance to curtail one of the most intrusive bills it has ever seen on Thursday, but citizens will have to wait even longer to find out their fate.

The potential law in question is a debate on "rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse" in online communications. If passed, the legislation would have cascading effects on the privacy of the average citizen.

'CHAT CONTROL IS COMING.'

Originally proposed in May 2022, the proposal has bounced around for more than four years. On Thursday, lawmakers once again voted to send the bill back to the Council of the EU, which represents the governments of the member states.

Members needed at least 361 votes to reject the bill, and even though they voted in a majority, it was not enough to kill the legislation.

"CHAT CONTROL IS COMING," wrote Cypriot member of parliament Fidias Panayiotou.

"Even though most Members of the European Parliament have voted to REJECT Chat Control, we have not been able to reach the absolute majority that was needed (361 Members). This is a sad day for Europeans," he added.

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CHAT CONTROL IS COMING

Even though most Members of the European Parliament have voted to REJECT Chat Control, we have not been able to reach the absolute majority that was needed (361 Members).

This is a sad day for Europeans. pic.twitter.com/fFJ1Khv0BS
— Fidias Panayiotou (@Fidias0) July 9, 2026

The EU proposal is meant to disrupt and stop Child Sexual Abuse Material, referred to as CSAM, by having social media and tech companies scan messages for potentially harmful content.

In a report from November 2025, the EU revealed the types of data tech companies had collected since engaging in its voluntary detection trial. The companies reported that they had collected the following traffic data:

"a) data related to the user account (Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Yubo), e.g. user ID, username, and IP address;

b) metadata related to content (Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Yubo);

c) data related to a potential victim (Google);

d) abuse operations data (Google)."

All providers mentioned videos and images, according to the EU.

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Nicolas TUCAT/AFP/Getty Images

Now at stake is whether scanning must include monitoring even end-to-end encrypted services, a scheme advanced under the moniker Chat Control 2.0.

Politico described the vote on Thursday as "chaotic," with one MEP reportedly telling the EU parliament vice president, "We don't know what we are voting on."

Member countries now must either accept the changes or propose a different version, which would send the EU into conciliation procedure.

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'Keep drivers focused': EU mandates eye-tracking cameras in every car



The European Union says it wants to keep drivers safe by mandating new safety protocols surrounding emergency detection and distracted drivers.

The method of achieving these safety measures is likely to anger some drivers, if not many.

'This requirement does not forbid the ADDW system to use data from the camera.'

In an article titled "Safer cars, safer roads: New rules take effect," the EU announced that its new "life-saving systems" are required for all newly registered cars and vans starting on July 7.

This includes requirements for expanded safety glass, new tests for worn tires, emergency brake detections, and most notably, an "advanced driver distraction warning system to keep drivers focused."

According to official EU documents, these ADDW systems are required to monitor where the driver is looking at all times.

"The presence of the driver's gaze shall be monitored by the ADDW system in the areas of interest," the documents state.

Although the amount of cameras (and their placement) is not described, the set of rules does define what is considered a "distraction" area for the driver. This includes the driver's lap, the center console, and behind the driver's seat.

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Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images

Allowable areas include the entire view of the windshield and the passenger window area.

The allottable time a driver is allowed to "gaze" into the distracted areas depends on the driver's speed. At speeds between 20 kph and 50 kph (between 12 mph and 31 mph), "if the driver's gaze remains within the defined 'distracted' vision area for more than 6 seconds," the car will issue a warning, InterRegs writes.

Above 50 kph, the time of allowed drifting gaze is just 3.5 seconds. Any violation of the allotted times will trigger a "visual warning ... to inform the driver, and an acoustic and/or a haptic warning shall be used" as well.

The warnings may "cascade and intensify" until the trigger conditions are met, the rules state. At the same time, there does not exist any verbiage that describes vehicle intervention or any kill switch to cut off the car's engine if the driver fails to comply.

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Francis DEMANGE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

In April, Republicans argued against similar technology being implemented in the United States, which included both passive and active monitoring tools, some of which can be powered by artificial intelligence.

Not only were infrared cameras that track a driver's eye movements and pupil dilation a possibility, but so were "cockpit-embedded sensors" capable of estimating blood alcohol levels through a driver's breath.

Other proposed methods have included touch-based sensors that detect alcohol through the skin of a finger or palm.

The EU says the new systems must function "without relying on biometric personal data of any vehicle occupants."

This data refers to any "physical, physiological, or behavioural characteristics" that identify the person, including "facial images."

"This requirement does not forbid the ADDW system to use data from the camera(s) equipped in the vehicle, it forbids the identification of the person by the ADDW system."

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Pope offers tried-and-true solution to Europe's population crisis



Pope Leo XIV urged European leaders on Monday to get in gear and address the continent's demographic crisis by reinforcing the family and affirming the dignity of human life.

The pope's call to action comes amid a severe demographic collapse that threatens not only Europe's social and economic stability but the cultural identities and destinies of various nations.

'A rejection of the Christian inspiration of the founding fathers of the EU institutions has led to a time of drastic sterility.'

The number of live births in Europe per 1,000 persons in 1970 was 16.4. By 2024, the crude birth rate had fallen to 7.9.

According to Eurostat, the European Union's total fertility rate — the average number of kids born to a woman over her lifetime — stood at 1.34 live births in 2024. Of the children born that year, nearly one in four have a foreign-born mother.

The fertility rate necessary for a population to maintain stability and replenish itself without requiring replacement by foreign nationals — what is referred to as replacement-level fertility — is 2.1.

Even when factoring in Europeans' replacement by foreigners, statisticians project the EU's population will fall by 11.7% between now and 2100 — from roughly 452 million to 399 million. Among the countries expected to thin out are Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Poland, projected to suffer population declines of 19.3%, 24%, 30.1%, and 31.6%, respectively.

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Sean Gallup/Getty Images

In his address this week to European officials, including members of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Demography, Pope Leo stressed that the continent's demographic crisis "stands as a crucial juncture for the anthropological, social, and economic future of Europe."

Echoing his predecessor, Pope Francis, Pope Leo said that Europe is not becoming the "old continent" because "of its glorious history, but because of its advancing age."

After emphasizing that "children are the future," Pope Leo noted that "a rejection of the Christian inspiration of the founding fathers of the EU institutions has led to a time of drastic sterility, not only because too many have been deprived of the right to be born, but also because there has been a failure to pass on the material and cultural tools that young people need to face the future."

In addition to faulting the Europeans for increasingly abandoning their Christian roots, the pope reprimanded them for Trojan-horsing the means of their demographic demise into policies advertised as "family-friendly" — policies that he said "simultaneously promote discrimination against motherhood, exalt abortion as a right, and undermine the very foundation of the desire to start a family."

To both address the demographic challenge at hand and counter the "two extremes of excessive state intervention and individualism," the Roman pontiff noted that Europeans must respect and promote the central place of the family — which "is founded on marriage between a man and a woman" — and apply the principle of subsidiarity.

"Only a fresh springtide for the family can transform the winter chill of our aging populations," said the pope.

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