Tuta in court over Chat Control

Tuta Mail, a German encrypted email provider, has announced that it will take legal action against the European Union if the bloc passes the controversial law on monitoring conversations (Chat Control) in October 2025.

The law, in its current form, would force communications providers to install government-mandated spyware that scans all messages, photos and files – even if they are encrypted. Legal experts have already warned that this is a clear violation of people’s privacy and, therefore, unconstitutional under EU law.

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Businesses like Tuta Mail that offer encrypted communication will be forced to undermine their encryption or leave the EU.

“For us, it is paradoxical that the German government has granted us 1,5 million euros to develop a solution with post-quantum encryption and now EU politicians want to destroy this high level of security again with legislation on conversation monitoring,” says Matthias Pfau, CEO of Tuta Mail.

“If Chat Control passes , we as an encryption provider have two options: sue to fight for people’s privacy or leave the EU. A third possibility – undermining Tuta Mail’s end-to-end encryption, which is not an option for us. Therefore, we would choose the first option because everyone deserves privacy. We will not stand idly by while the EU destroys encryption.”

Chat Control turns your phone into a spy

This Friday, September 12, the Council of the EU meets and governments will discuss their position on Chat Control.

Tuta reports

“As a German provider, we are calling on the German government to clearly oppose Chat Control and defend strong encryption. Not only because privacy is a human right, but also because, since the GDPR, German and European companies have created excellent privacy-friendly products that will help Europe become digitally dominant – if the EU does not destroy this business model with Chat Control.

“Digital sovereignty means that Europe will control its own secure digital future, which would destroy Chat Control. By forcing providers to break encryption and allow mass surveillance, the EU would kill trust in European products and drive users to foreign tech giants. Strong encryption is the foundation of digital sovereignty, and politicians should be aware of this when discussing Chat Control,” says Pfau.

The EU Council presidency (from Denmark) is pushing for a vote on October 14, 2025. If the current draft of Chat Control passes, it will impose client-side scanning, meaning that users’ devices would have to scan and flag content before it is encrypted. As a result, all citizens and businesses would be spied on, while government and military communications would be exempt.

“This hypocrisy opens the door for mass surveillance in a way we’ve only seen from repressive regimes like Russia or China. Imagine a spy sitting on your phone, reading your messages before you hit send. That’s Chat Control,” Pfau explains.

EU lawyers themselves have already warned that Chat Control is illegal and unlikely to survive judicial review. The German Constitutional Court has repeatedly struck down such surveillance laws, and experts predict that Chat Control will suffer the same fate.

"If the EU wants a surveillance state, we will fight. We will not backdoor our encryption."

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