Dutch parliament against Danish plan to monitor EU citizens’ chat messages

The Tweede Kamer is pressing the Dutch government to prevent the European Union from adopting a proposal that would allow "preventive monitoring" of private online messages across Europe.

The plan, proposed by Denmark, aims to combat the spread of online child sexual abuse material. While the Kamer supports fighting child pornography, members strongly oppose the “chat control” component of the proposal.

Caretaking Justice Minister Foort van Oosten (VVD) told lawmakers that the Netherlands opposes the so-called detection order and will continue to do so. Some EU countries also object, but they currently form only a “blocking minority,” Van Oosten said.

Several parties, including VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA, PVV, D66, FVD, and SP, warned that the proposal could still pass and urged Van Oosten to actively promote the Dutch opposition to persuade more countries to reject the measure.

“If the detection order is adopted, it would allow massive monitoring of messages from innocent citizens, including (encrypted) app messages, social media posts, cloud-stored messages, and emails,” lawmakers said. They argued it violates privacy and carries the risk that monitoring could later extend to purposes beyond child sexual abuse. Many experts have issued similar warnings.

Members also called on the Netherlands to take the lead in creating an alternative EU-wide system to combat online child pornography, noting that the current approach has long been stalled. GroenLinks-PvdA and SP stressed that the country has sufficient knowledge and institutions to develop a new method.