When the EU first introduced its “Chat Control” proposal, a regulation that would force message scanning and effectively end private encryption, most people hadn’t even heard of it. That changed when the students stepped in.
Over the past month, European Students For Liberty volunteers from more than 30 countries launched a high-stakes campaign to defend digital privacy. What started as small discontent in group chats turned into one of the most coordinated efforts in our movement’s history. Volunteers from Lisbon to Copenhagen to Budapest wrote articles, op-eds, and legal briefs. They organized email campaigns and put up posters. Through a targeted and relentless social media strategy, their educational content reached hundreds of thousands of users, influencing the public discourse. In Malta, our newly opened chapter collected over 1,500 petition signatures and secured support from multiple political parties.
Our students had two clear goals: help ordinary people understand what’s really at stake, and push for policy change. Chat Control wouldn’t just target criminals – it would subject everyone’s messages to automated scanning. Faulty algorithms would flag innocent photos, and it would set a dangerous precedent for authoritarian regimes to adopt similar mass surveillance tools.
“What disturbs me the most is that the law enforcement, the military, and the government are completely exempt from this law. This is a double standard and it sets a dangerous precedent. This is exactly what makes people lose their trust in government”.
Making sure people knew about the proposal’s faults increased the chances of them demanding the vote against it, but our students also took direct action. They contacted more than 450 MEPs, filling their inboxes with messages about Chat Control. Many MEPs publicly acknowledged the flood of emails they were receiving. Across Europe, the campaign drew backing from right-wing, left-wing, and even communist parties, who all stood together against Chat Control. This alliance proved that the right to privacy is not a partisan issue.
In Denmark, which currently holds the EU presidency, our team reached out to policymakers and journalists to make sure they heard a different perspective on what seemed like only a very compassionate proposal.
“This is under the guise of protecting children, but all it does is it gives power to the bureaucrats to spy on you and suppress speech they disagree with if given the opportunity”.
This is what civic pressure looks like in the digital age – and it works! The decisive vote, originally scheduled for October 14, has been postponed until December. This is a real win for privacy. But Chat Control isn’t fully defeated yet, and ESFL volunteers will keep fighting until it’s gone for good.
