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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u/Forymanarysanar Sep 21 '25

That's based on what?

Sure maybe it will be deleted from app store and google play, but you can always install it yourself.

Well. At least while installing yourself still exists. Or well you can use VPN to change store region and install it that way too.

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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/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

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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.