Signal does not have a large enough userbase to threaten something like this. EU will just shrug and move on.
This is the right choice.
Canary coal mine kind of signal (pardon the pun)
Edit: they also obviously do not have a choice. If they legally must weaken their work and the core of their work is that it’s not weak… then they have no work. So they can’t accept it.
I always threaten to pull out, but I never do
Dumbass. Always pull out. And wear a condom.
If signal pulls out of Europe we’re in a pretty fucked state. Apps like signal will be reduced to operations it a few fringe countries eventually
Signal is nice because it has a pretty good adoption rate even with non techies (which is why they’ve been mentioned by name in the chat control proposal). But privacy enthusiasts will still have briar/simplechat/xmpp. Those aren’t centralised like Signal and will be a lot harder to regulate
ChatControl 2.0, if passed means your entire device is backdoored so it doesn’t matter what apps you installl, they can get your info pre-encryption
Unless you outlaw alternative ROMs some devices will be not backdoored.
They will begin so, but the regulation means the authorities can backdoor your device way easier than they can today. It doesn’t mean your custom ROM device will be free of the scanning software forever.
It also means that you need to know that the receiving device you’re communicating with is clean custom ROM device, otherwise your messages will be scanned on the receiving side.
The regulation is a complete shitshow privacy nightmare hiding under CSAM trenchcoat. We’d do well to organize and fight against it, instead of trying to back down to the perceived safety of esoteric custom ROMs.
ChatControl 2.0 will mean that phones localized outside of Europe will sell at a premium.
Custom roms is your best bed at that point. I do use GOS already.
It’s great as long as you can guarantee that the person you’re communicating on the receiving side does the same. Otherwise it’s useless as your messages will be read on the receiving device. In practice it will make private communication extremely cumbersome and niche.
Also, the authorities can backdoor your custom ROM device at will, when seized.
Custom roms is your best bed
Didn’t know they come with sleeping facilities. They’re so versatile nowadays! SCNR
😅🤣
You won’t be able to install those apps soon after Android bans sideloading of apps that aren’t signed, or bans sideloading of apps that are not from the playstore itself.
What then?
I don’t think privacy enthusiasts use vanilla Android. People will stick to Lineage/Graphene for as long as it works and then switch to something like Postmarket. It’s already in a state where it’s rough but usable.
Europe: Companies can’t lock down your operating system.
Also Europe: Companies must force back doors into their operating systems.
I wonder how long those two things can coexist.
Well, Google’s current behaviour is already putting the future existence of F-Droid into question.
We need FOSS phones badly and in numbers that manufacturing isn’t horrible. That is until our governments force carriers not to connect them.
If I could find a reasonably priced 8" Linux tablet, I’d sell my phone and buy a cellular wifi AP.
I don’t understand how this “threat” is supposed to work. If the law passes won’t any and all chat encryption be affected? In that case it doesn’t matter how you get the app, or if you manage to get it in europe. Its encryption will be broken/unavailable.
Laws don’t magically break encryption. I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.
They’re trying to force Signal to weaken the application, Signal says they won’t do it.
They can ban Signal for not complying, but you know how difficult it is to ban a digital application? It might make it more popular since it’ll be one of very few actually secure messaging apps out there.
Encryption isn’t magically broken because a legislature says it is.
They have to apply teeth to a market they control. Not everything is within their control. Though, signal is.
Shocker. I do however wonder what prevents someone from downloading and installing the apk to their phone. Am I wrong in believing this is a real way to bypass them leaving a market?
what prevents someone from downloading and installing the apk to their phone
google.
https://www.androidsage.com/2025/08/26/google-blocks-sideloading-of-android-apps/
So first step is installing an alternative phone OS then.
yeah, except according to my understanding of the topic, there is not much adult alternatives. graphene will have the same problem.
If you are running Android Open Source Project without Google Play Services, Google has no control. However, manufacturers could be pressured into locking bootloaders and then no one gets AOSP or GrapheneOS at all.
You can move to WiFi tablets then. The hostile network boundary would then begin on your MiFi router.
