Today's advancement in technology have increased the use of digital surveillance in the world. It is a trend that's seen all over the world and this thesis will explore the increasing digital surveillance within the EU. The reasoning behind these new measures is often stated as to protect citizens and combat crime, which in this case is child sexual exploitation online. The question then becomes, are the measures an overreach and how do they affect citizens privacy and fundamental rights? In addition, the aim of this paper is to examen how the EU is striving to improve its monitoring under the guise of security and safety, additionally how his will affect citizens' rights. It explores whether the EU's Chat Control legislation marks a shift toward a surveillance-oriented state and how it affects the balance between surveillance and fundamental rights.

For this bachelor-thesis semi-structured interviews with legal and technical experts were utilized and data was analysed through a thematic analysis.

The EU has implemented protection in the form of the general data protection regulation (GDPR) however, there are new legislations that are being pushed forward that raises doubts, including the proposed “Chat Control”, which will be further discussed in this thesis. Chat Control’s main aim is to detect the spread of illegal material mainly child pornography. This is done by automatically scanning private communication, which may lead to the end of end-to-end encrypted messages. Many argue that this legislation constitutes mass surveillance which is in direct violation with EUs fundamental rights and declaration of human rights specifically the right to privacy and the right to freedom of expression among many others. Another concern is that the technology for this legislation may be misused, in the form of spying on citizens. 

In conclusion, the findings highlight a conflict within the EU over digital security and human rights, as the Chat Control debate highlights the challenges of technology outpacing legal and social framework