TLDR
- Vitalik Buterin strongly criticizes the EU’s proposed Chat Control legislation for compromising digital privacy.
- He warns that mandatory surveillance measures would harm privacy and security for everyone involved.
- Buterin argues that backdoors for law enforcement are vulnerable to hacking and undermine overall safety.
- The Ethereum co-founder calls out the hypocrisy of lawmakers seeking exemptions from the law.
- Crypto advocates like Hans Rempel and Elisenda Fabrega express concerns over the legislation driving users to Web3 platforms.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sharply criticized the European Union’s proposed “Chat Control” legislation. He warned that it threatens digital privacy. The regulation would force tech platforms to scan private messages for illegal content, which Buterin believes would harm security and privacy for everyone.
Vitalik Buterin Highlights the Dangers of Mandatory Surveillance
Vitalik Buterin strongly opposed the mandatory surveillance measures in the EU’s Chat Control proposal. He argued that backdoors for law enforcement would inevitably be hacked.
“You cannot make society secure by making people insecure,” Buterin wrote.
He emphasized that such backdoors would compromise everyone’s safety, not enhance it.
Fight Chat Control.
You cannot make society secure by making people insecure.
We all deserve privacy and security, without inevitably hackable backdoors, for our private communications.
The fact that the government officials want to exempt themselves from their own law is… https://t.co/OY5NXyk58j
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2025
Buterin also warned that the government’s attempt to monitor private communications would violate the fundamental right to privacy. He reiterated that “We all deserve privacy and security” when communicating digitally. His criticism of the proposed law underscores his concern over how it would impact citizens’ privacy rights.
Hypocrisy of Exemptions for Lawmakers Under EU’s Chat Control
Buterin criticized the proposed law’s apparent hypocrisy in seeking to exempt government officials. A leaked draft revealed that EU ministers, intelligence, police, and military personnel may avoid the surveillance measures. He called this exemption “telling” and linked to a report that shed light on these exemptions.
The fact that lawmakers seek exemption from their own law raises concerns about its fairness. Buterin pointed out the inconsistency in how the law would apply to different groups. This stance reinforces his argument that the law could undermine trust in the government.
Crypto advocates have voiced concerns that the Chat Control proposal could push users toward decentralized platforms. Diode CEO Hans Rempel and Brickken’s Elisenda Fabrega warned that this shift might harm the EU’s digital market. Rempel highlighted Web3’s “not your keys, not your data” ethos as appealing to privacy-conscious users.
Fabrega also noted that the proposal violates Articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter, which safeguard privacy. She stressed that the legislation could fragment the EU’s influence on global privacy standards.
