EDRi

1/ 🪅 Great news!

Today, the #EuropeanParliament voted to improve the Commission’s proposal for another extension of the ePrivacy derogation (often called "Chat Control1.0").

A large majority agreed that:
✅ Mass surveillance of private communications by Big Tech companies is not allowed, and any intrusion into people’s right to confidential communications needs to be based on reasonable suspicion;
✅ End-to-end encrypted communications cannot be weakened or undermined.

1/ Today, we filed a complaint with the 🇧🇪 Digital Services Coordinator vs. YouTube under the #DSA.

We challenge how YouTube uses deceptive interface design to steer users towards its profiling-based recommender system.

YouTube curates & ranks content primarily through systems that monitor & analyse user behaviour.

🤖 Clicks, likes, shares, watch time & interaction patterns are used to predict & shape future behaviour, influencing what billions of users see online.

https://edri.org/our-work/edri-files-dsa-complaint-against-youtube-for-undermining-user-autonomy/

1/3 🚨#ChatControl is in the final stretch 🚨

Today, EU lawmakers are gathering for the next round of formal negotiations on the controversial #CSARegulation.

🔎 While some of the most controversial issues, like those relating to mass scanning, will come later, we are paying a lot of attention to things that could be discussed soon, especially the rules on #AgeVerification.

Read our blog about the latest updates on the CSA Regulation negotiations ➡️ https://edri.org/our-work/chat-control-is-in-the-final-stretch-but-it-could-be-a-marathon-not-a-sprint/

❌ No snooping on our messages ❌

The European Parliament is currently deciding its position on the proposed second extension of the ‘temporary’ interim ePrivacy derogation, also known as 'Chat Control 1.0'.

✊🏾 @edri@eupolicy.social, 39 organisations and several individual experts are urging members of the Parliament to reject any extension of the derogation.

It is vital that MEPs act now to rule out mass snooping on our private messages.

Read the full letter ➡️ https://edri.org/our-work/open-letter-we-say-no-to-big-tech-mass-snooping-on-our-messages/

Algorithms are shaping access to welfare. But at what cost?

In the coming EAPN Talks, we discuss together with @LaQuadrature@mamot.fr the role of tech in the welfare state - from innovation to surveillance risks - and what safeguards we urgently need.

🗓️ 24 February 2026, 14.00-15.30, online
📝 Registration ➡️ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWeB_t7FydW07B89B0U9OvTUNqz2A49urzS4Px99bvPlpHAA/viewform

💋 There is only one way to KISS – Keep it Safe and Secure: with strong encryption, ban on spyware, democratic oversight and communities with power. Anything less than that is control & surveillance.

Together with allies, we’re launching this campaign to protect our messages AND devices in digital space.

If you ♥️ encryption & 💔 spyware, check out & support our campaign ➡️ https://edri.org/take-action/our-campaigns/keep-it-safe-and-secure/

🗣️ Transparency isn’t red tape, it’s accountability

The #DigitalOmnibus proposes to remove Article 49(2) from the #AIAct. This would allow AI providers to dodge registration of high-risk systems by self-declaring they’re “not high risk”.
This would weaken enforcement, undermine legal certainty & erode fundamental rights, all for €100 saving per company.

Name a worse trade.

We urge EU lawmakers to reject this rollback & uphold the integrity of the AI Act.

💌 w/60 CSOs https://edri.org/our-work/ai-omnibus-reject-the-proposals-to-undermine-transparency-in-the-ai-act/

Today (like any other day) we celebrate Safer Internet Day 🥳

When platforms are built to exploit attention & manipulate behavior, we must build digital spaces that empower, protect & respect everyone.

It’s time to stop patching problems, EU lawmakers must ensure:

✅ Platforms are designed for safety & fairness.
✅ Children are empowered, with privacy, agency & their right to participation respected.
✅ Holistic approaches build resilience and prepare everyone to navigate risks safely.

1/ 🚨 On Friday, the @European Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the #DSA due to the addictive design of its platform.

🎉 We welcome this decision: the DSA was designed precisely to address systemic risks of this kind, and this case has the potential to push platforms to rethink fundamental design choices rather than rely on easy but ineffective quick fixes.

https://edri.org/our-work/edri-welcomes-eu-preliminary-findings-on-tiktoks-addictive-platform-design/

Deregulation was the 🇪🇺 plan, resistance was our response.

From defending the #DSA and #DMA, challenging Big Tech’s abuses, and pushing back against mass surveillance, to building powerful coalitions and growing the EDRi network across Europe, we proved that digital rights are worth fighting for.

2026, we’re ready, whatever comes next 🦾

Read a summary of our year in action ➡️ https://edri.org/our-work/edris-2025-in-review-we-resisted-we-persisted/

Security ≠ surveilling everyone

With 18 CSOs, we have sent a letter to the 🇨🇭 Federal Department of Justice & Police to oppose plans to expand its data retention regime. This proposal forces the collection & retention of people’s data across the board, dramatically widening online surveillance.

It's disproportionate, rights-eroding & incompatible with a democratic society: Swiss authorities must abandon mass data retention & stop treating everyone as a suspect.

📩: https://edri.org/our-work/open-letter-civil-society-concerned-about-extensive-and-indiscriminate-data-retention-regime-in-switzerland/

RE: @eff@mastodon.social

The #DSA is shaping platform regulation far beyond Europe, but replication without context can do real harm.

That’s why @eff@mastodon.social & Access Now have developed a new resource setting out global recommendations for enforcing the DSA in ways that protect freedom of expression, safeguard marginalised communities, and prevent politicised or abusive enforcement.

🔎 Dive in here ⤵️

1/ 🎉Happy #DataProtectionDay 🎉

Data protection is fundamental right & backbone of many other digital rights we rely on every day.

Strong data protection limits surveillance, curbs profiling, exposes discrimination & gives people ways to challenge automated decisions. Without it, words like fairness, equality & accountability quickly lose their meaning, online & offline.

Today & any other day, our message should be clear: this right matters, it's not negotiable & deserves full protection.

The @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu has opened a #DSA investigation into X’s AI chatbot Grok.

In just days, its produced 3M+ non-consensual sexualised images of women &minors, turning X into an infrastructure for AI-enabled sexual abuse. Elon Musk & his company have treated the harm like a game, putting profits over people.

We welcome the EC decision: strong safeguards, independent verification, dissuasive fines, and bold EU enforcement are non-negotiable.

Read our full statement ➡️ https://edri.org/our-work/edri-calls-for-swift-action-as-eu-probes-xs-grok-over-ai-generated-harm/

RE: @epicenter_works@chaos.social

Today the @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu unveiled its proposal for a Digital Networks Act (#DNA)... and it has far-reaching implications for Europe’s internet.

Despite being framed as a “technical update,” our member @epicenter_works@chaos.social's first analysis shows the proposal could dismantle key net neutrality safeguards, centralise political power, and threaten an open and neutral internet.

Read the full analysis 👇

🗞️ Your favourite #DigitalRights newsletter is back! Strap in for the busy and buzzy first edition of the #EDRigram in 2026. On our agenda:

🕵🏾 new resource to strengthen the case for an EU-wide ban on #spyware
✊🏾 resisting discriminatory algorithms in the Netherlands with Bits of Freedom, and in France with La Quadrature du Net and coalition.
🤔 EDRi's 2025 year in review - resisting and persisting despite everything

... and more! ➡️ https://edri.org/our-work/edri-gram-21-january-2026/

RE: @LaQuadrature@mamot.fr

✊🏾 @edri@eupolicy.social is proud to join @LaQuadrature@mamot.fr and other orgs in challenging the discriminatory algorithms used by the family branch of the French welfare system (CNAF).

In the context of the current #deregulation spree by the European Commission, this legal action shows resistance to the rollback of #FundamentalRights protections and the increase of rights-infringing legislation.

Read an update about the strengthened coalition and the legal action so far ➡️ https://edri.org/our-work/cnafs-discriminatory-scoring-algorithm-10-new-organisations-join-the-case-before-the-conseil-detat-in-france/

We are grateful to be among the 10 beneficiaries of the 2025 @protonprivacy@mastodon.social Lifetime Fundraiser together with organisations working to protect digital rights, including EDRi member @digiges@mastodon.social and partners @nlnet@social.nlnet.nl & Lighthouse Reports

"Support from the global Proton community will significantly strengthen EDRi’s resilience, empowering us to advocate for robust laws and promote a healthy and accountable technology market." Amber Sinha, EDRi Executive Director

👉 https://proton.me/blog/2025-lifetime-fundraiser-results

Today, #Australia enforced a social media ban for kids under 16.

The same debate is happening in Europe, where #AgeVerification measures are gaining traction, with the European Commission, the Council of the EU, and the European Parliament all endorsing similar approaches.

‼️ Reminder: age verification is not real protection. It’s a quick techno-fix that locks young people out of spaces while failing to address the root problems of broken platforms.

More ➡️ https://edri.org/our-work/why-age-verification-misses-the-mark-and-puts-everyone-at-risk/

1/5 🚨 European Commission slammed for breaching transparency laws 🚨

🔎 The European Ombudsperson has found that the Commission disregarded important transparency rules while preparing the #Europol Regulation, which is a part of the legislation to "counter migrant smuggling" ➡️ https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/press-release/en/215989

The Ombudsperson's inquiry follows a complaint lodged by @edri@eupolicy.social and Platform for Undocumented Migrants (@PICUM) on behalf of the #ProtectNotSurveil coalition 👏🏾

1/5📍#ChatControl: Today, following a lot of public pressure, representatives of the EU member states have finally agreed on their position to remove arguably the most controversial part of the #CSARegulation: the requirement for message and email services to scan users' private communications.

🔑 This is a key development. We, along with hundreds of experts, have criticised this part of the law for undermining the presumption of innocence and posing an existential threat to #encryption.

1/4 🚨 The Digital Omnibus proposals are here - and our rights and protections online are officially under threat 🚨

The proposals published today endanger the very core of EU's digital protections for people - the #GDPR, #ePrivacy and the #AIAct.

Weakening these safeguards would entrench #surveillance, profiling and algorithmic #discrimination in every aspect of society 🙅🏾

Read our press release for more details: https://edri.org/our-work/commissions-digital-omnibus-is-a-major-rollback-of-eu-digital-protections/

Europe’s digital rights are on the chopping block.

We - 127 CSOs & trade unions - are sounding the alarm over the European Commission’s forthcoming #DigitalOmnibus proposals.

Behind “simplification” lies a deregulation agenda that threatens the EU's digital framework - GDPR, ePrivacy, AI Act, DSA & DMA - the very laws that keep our data safe, hold govts & corporations accountable, prevent AI from determining our life chances, & protect us from mass surveillance.

✉️ : https://edri.org/our-work/forthcoming-digital-omnibus-would-mark-point-of-no-return/

🦆 Thank you @duckduckgo@botsin.space for supporting European Digital Rights network's efforts towards building a digital future where we can all thrive 🌿

💙 We appreciate your support for our members & partners @article19@mastodon.world, @eff@mastodon.social, Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V., @openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org , Signal Technology Foundation, @noybeu@mastodon.social and The Tor Project.

Read more about DuckDuckGo's charitable donations in 2025 to support #privacy, competition and #DigitalRights: https://spreadprivacy.com/p/bd445f49-d088-4178-b727-e8d051b62121/?member_status=free

That’s a wrap on #PrivacyCamp25! 🙌

💜 A huge thank you to all the speakers, participants & communities who made today a space of solidarity, care & powerful ideas.

Together we’ve shown that resilience & resistance are possible and essential in the face of deregulation & authoritarianism.

The struggle for digital justice - and beyond! - continues and we are ready for the road ahead ✊

See you next year!

📸 : Omar Havana

🔓 Spyware, backdoors, client-side scanning: law enforcement keeps expanding its access to our devices & encrypted messages. But at what cost for democracy, privacy & fair trial rights?

Join this panel at #PrivacyCamp25 for a discussion with @LaQuadrature@mamot.fr, @chlobemy@mamot.fr, @amnestytech@bird.makeup & Guillaume Dasquié on the urgent need for safeguards.

🎥: https://privacycamp.eu/