“What the Council endorsed today is a Trojan Horse. By cementing 'voluntary' mass scanning, they are legitimising the warrantless, error-prone mass surveillance of millions of Europeans by US corporations.”

Breyer also pointed out that the introduction of age-verification systems – using ID cards or facial recognition – would endanger online privacy.

Now that the Council has finally reached a compromise – despite opposition from the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Poland – negotiations with the European Parliament and the Commission, known as trilogues, can start in 2026.

Those negotiations need to land before the already postponed expiration of the current E-Privacy regulation that allows exceptions under which companies can conduct this kind of voluntary scanning.