Governments demand privacy for themselves, but for citizens it's a no, Chat Control for mass surveillance is needed
It’s not about security. It’s not about your safety. It's about controlling you.
Recent events at the Matrix Conference, showcasing the use of the open-source, decentralized Matrix protocol for secure messaging, exposed a glaring hypocrisy in European governments’ approach to end-to-end encryption (E2EE).
While nations like Germany and France with its mandatory Matrix-based Tchap app for public officials, are heavily investing in Matrix to secure their own government, military, and even healthcare communications, their legislative actions tell a different story for citizens.
Astonishingly, the European Commission, which is trialing Matrix for its own secure chats, is the same body that proposed the controversial “Chat Control” (CSAR) bill. This legislation seeks to undermine private communications by mandating an encryption backdoor to scan all user chats. France is also among the bill’s supporters.
This dual vision is clear: governments deem strong encryption crucial for their own security and data sovereignty, yet they seem willing to sacrifice it for their citizens.
This proposed legislation flies in the face of what security experts know: a deliberate weakness in encryption is a weakness for everyone.
Matthew Hodgson, Co-Founder of Matrix, calls the idea of an authority only backdoor “naive and technically impossible.” Once an entry point exists, he warns, “everyone will be able to exploit it, period”. Why do you think Apple is fighting so hard against breaking its own security and encryption?
Runi Hammer, CEO of Meedio, points out that the Danish proposal for Chat Control explicitly excludes government and military accounts from the mandatory scanning—a clear demonstration that “when governments say everybody needs to do something, they usually mean everybody else.”
Gabriel Engel, CEO of Rocket.Chat, argues that the push to break encryption isn’t about security; it’s about “control,” driven by governments wanting to “monitor their citizens, while wanting the opposite for themselves.”
Experts overwhelmingly agree: weakening encryption for citizens does not solve the underlying problem of crime and, instead, exposes everyone to greater risk from cyberattacks and surveillance.
If weakening encryption isn’t the answer, what is?
Tech leaders suggest the focus should shift from mass surveillance to building privacy preserving infrastructure that allows society to “self-police.” Hodgson believes the industry must develop better “trust and safety tools” to allow for the effective reporting and flagging of crimes on platforms, without destroying the security benefits of E2EE.
As the digital world expands, the choice is between the security of free communication and the illusion of safety through surveillance. The consensus from those building the world’s most secure communication systems is firm: mass surveillance is not the way forward, and citizens deserve the same security and privacy governments demand for themselves.