Why is it currently illegal? If I have a service that let's users communicate, why is it illegal to look through those communications? (especially after they've signed my 400 page EULA). It would make moderation impossible otherwise.

Or are we saying this is being used for something specific that happens to be illegal?

Privacy laws (2020), which aim to reassert people’s control over stuff like the content of their private correspondence.

Moderation had continued under the terms of an exemption, which expired April 3. Chat Control 2.0 would have mooted it; CC2.0 didn’t pass (nice job all!); so they’re maneuvering to extend the status quo.

To the “impossible,” though: I vaguely remember, many years ago, digging through some pretty cool research about content-agnostic approaches to moderation at scale. Many of which, IIRC, informed WhatsApp’s approach. They seemed to focus on damping the social dynamics of content that ended up being inflammatory, malicious, or extractive.

Things like restricting the number of times any specific message could be forwarded, or constraining the size of audience that somebody could address with malicious messages, or network analysis overlaid on messages that recipients voluntarily flagged for review. (And in WhatsApp’s case, segregating explicitly commercial speech in “business accounts” outside the e2e veil.)

I seem to remember those interventions drawing from the toolsets that more ambitious nation-states had developed for their information-domain aims, foreign and domestic.

I’m sure this is an entire field of study that I’m doing no justice, but I’d welcome any entry points to the current literature!

> It would make moderation impossible otherwise.

Why would you need to moderate private messages between users?

Why should you have any right to look through everyone's private communications? Nobody really has any choice to reject your EULA if they want to stay in contact with someone on your service. I could force you to sign a ToS that includes "By using our service you owe us $10 million and agree to donate your kidney to our CEO" in order to reach your overseas grandma, but that doesn't mean it's actually enforceable or legal...

the opposite question - why is it legal and was made legal?

it's unconstitutional in most places to read letters - same thing should be applied to other form of communication as well

Because the EU passed a law making it illegal and the temporary exemption recently expired.