2026-04-24 16:17 UTC
Despite [the general and indiscriminate scanning of people’s messages not being legal in the EU](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/eu-parliament-blocks-mass-scanning-our-chats-whats-next)
>Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Snap have already signaled in a joint statement to “[continue to take voluntary action](https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/around-the-globe/google-europe/reaffirming-commitment-to-child-safety/) on our relevant Interpersonal Communication Services.” Whether this indicates continued scanning of our private communication is not entirely clear, but what is clear is that such activity would now risk breaching EU law. Then again, lack of compliance with EU data protection and privacy rules is nothing new for big tech in Europe.
It is utterly insane that any company thinks that they can ignore laws from at least two different continents and not only _think_ they will get away with it, but _are_ getting away with it, and doing it so blatantly, impetuously and with impunity.
Replies (2)
-
@atrielienz@lemmy.world 2026-04-24 18:14
They don't think. They know. They have carefully weighed the likeliness of repercussions vs to the profit to be made from doing it anyway. They have also weighed how likely it is they will face legal action and what the legal action will cost them. They have also also stacked the deck against the common user and any legislators that might want to hold them accountable through lobbying and other forms of coercion or bribery. This is a well calculated "risk" vs reward for them.
-
@borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-24 18:34
Wait, hasn’t the EU also been pushing for mandatory scanning of people’s messages FoR tHe cHiLdrEn? Or were they just pushing for a backdoor in the encryption to enable selective scanning at a massive scale?