The Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet) strongly criticizes a European Commission regulation proposal aimed at preventing online child abuse, notably through a measure nicknamed "Chat Control".

The regulation project would require digital platforms and messaging services to automatically monitor all content, including sound, images, and text, to report any potentially illegal material to a central EU body. This obligation would also apply to end-to-end encrypted services, which would be forced to analyze communications before encryption, thus compromising the confidentiality of exchanges.
Datatilsynet considers this measure to establish generalized and disproportionate surveillance of all users, without concrete suspicion, which is incompatible with the principles of a democratic rule of law. The authority warns of major security risks, as weakening encryption would create vulnerabilities exploitable by malicious actors. It also deems detection technologies unreliable and circumventable, and recommends targeted risk-based approaches rather than mass surveillance.