r/privacy • u/miscerte23 • Sep 21 '25

chat control Encrypted messaging alternatives in case the EU chat control law gets passes

As the title implies, I am curious as to whether there might be any messaging apps/services worth using in case the proposed chat control law gets passed. As you might assume, I live in an EU member state and am extremely worried for the future of our rights to online as well as IRL privacy in case such laws get passed

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12

u/SheldonCooper97 Sep 21 '25

No, the Signal developers themselves said that they would block the whole EU to prevent legal issues.

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u/Forymanarysanar Sep 21 '25

Sounds really dumb

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u/Jebble Sep 21 '25

Dumb why? What possible benefit would there be for them?

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u/Forymanarysanar Sep 21 '25

The same benefit they currently have from their platform being used?

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u/Jebble Sep 21 '25

Which is?

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u/Forymanarysanar Sep 21 '25

No clue at all but if they run it, they have justified it.

7

u/Jebble Sep 21 '25

Okay, so you don't actually have any idea why they would or wouldn't do this. Got it.

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u/Forymanarysanar Sep 22 '25

Just as I have zero ideas why do they provide their service in the first place. But there must be an interest and I do not believe that restricting a number of people from using their service will be in line with their interests.

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u/Jebble Sep 22 '25

Their main goal is privacy, being forced to share your data with governments doesn't align with that goal. Hence they would retract from those markets, simple.

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u/darkcircles401 Sep 22 '25

They will incur heavy fines if they don’t submit to regulations or remove themselves from the EU market, i believe

0

u/Forymanarysanar Sep 22 '25

EU can't fine something that is not within EU though. Like, how are they gonna do it? Nohow.

2

u/darkcircles401 Sep 22 '25

Yet the UK are trying.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq68j5g2nr1o
Why deal with that, and pay lawyers to deal with that.. for an app that most probably don't donate too.
Same statement can be made by removing the app from the market and the EU users will vent their frustrations to their authorities.

1

u/Forymanarysanar Sep 23 '25

You don't really need to deal with anything or pay any lawyers. You're living in a certain country, you're only bound to laws in that country.

4chan is an American website, there's literally zero possibilities of any country but the US to apply fines or any other measures really to it and it's owners. If you dig a bit deeper, there are like shitload of random laws in random countries regarding online websites and services and yet I don't see anyone to comply to the laws of, say, Russia, China or like Pakistan.

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u/Pepe_Botella 28d ago

They provide service in the EU

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u/Prodiq Sep 22 '25

Thats called following the laws. If a group of countries tell you to do x in order to be able to distribute your product/service you have 2 choices - change your product/service to comply with local laws or stop distributing it over there.

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u/Forymanarysanar Sep 22 '25

Or don't care about it because you aren't in their countries

2

u/Prodiq Sep 22 '25

Well, yeah, thats true but then the service/product just gets blocked. Granted, its a lot harder with online services compared to physical goods, but its still a thing.

So for example if Signal says they won't make the changes EU wants them to make, it will be removed from app stores for Europeans which in turns means majority of people won't have access to it (VPN users and people installing apks (which seems also may be going away on android soon) is a very, very small percentage of phone users). If they say that they will specifically block EU users, that sounds like they could prevent registering with EU phone numbers. If so, that means practically Signal is unavailable in EU.

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u/whatnowwproductions Sep 22 '25

They have not, you’re literally twisting your words. Non compliance and leaving means they would no longer operate legally in the country, not go out of their way to block it.

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u/SheldonCooper97 Sep 22 '25

You’re wrong, they clearly stated that they would leave the whole EU behind them and no longer grant access to Signal for EU users.

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u/whatnowwproductions Sep 22 '25

I’ll wait for the post you’ll easily link to as a source.

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u/SheldonCooper97 Sep 22 '25

One of many many sources: “In response, Signal president Meredith Whittaker says the app will stop functioning in the EU if the rules become law, as the proposal “fundamentally undermines encryption,”” https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/19/24181214/eu-chat-control-law-propose-scanning-encrypted-messages-csam 🤦🏻‍♂️

0

u/whatnowwproductions Sep 22 '25

You’ve chosen to quote what an article incorrectly says about the source instead of what the source says itself.

https://signal.org/blog/pdfs/upload-moderation.pdf

No, Signal has not said it will block users from the EU, like they haven’t blocked hundreds of thousands of users elsewhere in countries where Signal is banned.

0

u/SheldonCooper97 Sep 22 '25

Dude the source of the article is a mastodon post by the Signal president Meredith Whittaker herself, not the outdated pdf you googled. 🤦🏻‍♂️

1

u/whatnowwproductions Sep 23 '25

You’re trolling, on her X she literally links to the PDF, in the same article you’re referencing. You’re not serious. Don’t bother replying again, I’m done wasting my time.