Navigating complex headwinds in EU’s deregulation era – armed with a new strategic vision

2025 saw a new college of European Commissioners in office and, with that, the beginning of an era of deregulation under the guise of ‘simplification’ and ‘competitiveness’. Many vital EU regulations – from laws that protect labour and social rights, to environmental protections – have been targeted in these efforts and the digital rulebook has not been spared.

Armed with a new strategy, EDRi held the line to protect and promote digital rights and justice. It took a leading role in the EU’s broadest and most diverse coalition of civil society, trade unions, and public interest groups from various sectors. These groups have joined forces in response to the ongoing and anticipated wave of drastic cuts to this vital legislation. In October, EDRi hosted a two-day summit for over 100 European delegates, unifying their opposition to the deregulation agenda through shared strategy and storytelling. This culminated on 19 November — the launch date of the controversial Digital Omnibus — with a massive billboard campaign across Brussels urging the EU to prioritise people’s rights over the interests of Big Tech.

These are just a couple of the milestones we have achieved this year, but there is much more to be proud of. Read about our network’s achievements in the annual report, which was validated by EDRi members at our May 2026 General Assembly.

Safeguarding digital rules, resisting surveillance, building resilience

In 2025, we continued to champion the digital rulebook as an essential framework for protecting digital rights and ensuring a fair market. We took direct legal action against Meta and X for privacy abuses and regulatory breaches, achieving a landmark court ruling against Meta in the Netherlands with our member Bits of Freedom. This ruling affirmed users’ freedom of choice and exposed the company’s failure to comply with its DSA obligations.

Throughout the year, the EDRi network intensified its work on protecting encryption and combatting data retention following the release of the EU’s new ProtectEU strategy. Thanks to our successful advocacy work, we played a key role in bringing an end to the multi-year Council stalemate on Chat Control (CSA Regulation), with the Council finally ruling out mandatory mass scanning and encryption-breaking measures in the CSA Regulation.

Our efforts to resist Europol continued throughout 2025. EDRi and its members formed a wide-reaching coalition of civil society groups and published a joint statement urging the total rejection of the Europol Regulation and amendments to the Facilitation Directive.

In June, we published a position paper advocating an EU-wide ban on spyware. This resource was used extensively to inform EU lawmakers and influence the debate towards stronger positions on the issue. These efforts resulted in the formation of a European Parliament interest group on spyware.

Meanwhile, digital deregulation threatened delays and dilution of the AI Act. Despite our successes in early 2025, when our recommendations were incorporated into the guidelines on prohibited AI systems under the EU AI Act, we continued to focus on strengthening protections. We also worked to combat biometric mass surveillance and other harmful AI practices across Member States.

Similarly, while facing increasing political pressure, we worked tirelessly to defend the integrity of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a cornerstone of the EU’s digital rulebook, and to push for its effective enforcement. At the same time, we increased our involvement in the Digital Fairness Act (DFA), which is expected to launch in 2026. Recognising the potential of legislation to modernise consumer protection in the digital age, we contributed to open consultations and published our position paper.

During the year, we witnessed a series of rapid and deeply concerning policy developments related to age verification. In response, we have engaged in strategic and targeted advocacy, focusing on the risks associated with overly broad and exclusionary age verification measures, including their impact on privacy, anonymity, and freedom of expression.

We made sure to underline the human-rights impact that technologies and related legislations have on our daily lives. To this purpose, the work of the newly launched Civic Journalism Coalition was instrumental in bringing together journalists and digital rights groups and has catalysed several joint investigations into digital rights abuses.

Looking forward: Our work in 2026

The threats to the rules that protect our rights are becoming increasingly real and tangible. A growing pro-corporate, far-right political agenda and geopolitical tensions are putting decades of progress in the fields of digital justice and human rights at risk.

In 2026, with renewed energy and our new strategy, we will continue to advocate for a digital future centred on people, on solidarity with communities more affected by harm, and free from the influence of Big Tech.