EDRi celebrates Global Encryption Day 2026

On 21 October 2026, we celebrate the Global Encryption Day! Part of EDRi’s KISS campaign, we celebrate this day with our partners, online, in Brussels and in different European capitals.

A recent survey conducted by CDT Europe shows that across several European countries (France, Sweden, Poland, and Ireland), people consistently oppose measures that would compromise encrypted communication platforms. In France, 92% of respondents agree they have the right to have private conversations online, while the figure goes to 94% in Poland, 88% in Sweden and 93% in Ireland.

Encryption is great for protecting the way our messages travel on the internet. Through “end to end encryption”, anyone can make sure that the content of an online conversation can not be intruded upon, not even the server that facilitates the transmission.

This year, we have coordinated several campaign actions to celebrate encryption.

1. Raising awareness in European Capitals through LED “Encryption trucks” driving around Paris, Berlin and Dublin and a metro poster campaign in Prague.

To visibilise people’s support for encryption, we partnered with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Féministes contre le cyberharcèlement and Digitale Gesellschaft who are in the streets today, talking to people and press about the “Encryption trucks” and the importance of encryption. In Prague, our partner Iure has been supporting the Metro Posters campaign for the past weeks.

2. Working across silos with groups promoting gender justice, and sex workers rights in the digitalised society.

In the case of women defenders, land defenders from indigenous groups, racial justice activists, sex workers defenders and defenders of migrants, unsafe communications can have life or death consequences. For human rights defenders, secure and trusted communication is often a matter of physical safety and democratic organising.

For 21 October 2026, we have partnered with European Sex Workers Alliance and Féministes contre le cyberharcèlement (France) to raise awareness on the importance of safe and secure communications for sex workers as well as womens’ rights. Check ESWA’s Instagram video and

3. Visibilising the testimonials of activists from Privacy Camp and across Europe

During 14^th edition of Privacy Camp gathering that happened recently in Brussels, EDRi asked a few participants why encryption mattered for them. The people we interviewed came from a variety of causes: those fighting for a healthy European civic space, and for digital rights in Netherlands, Portugal and Germany. More, we asked EDRi’s over 35.000 supporters why encryption mattered to them too. Their answers inspired us to post some of them, and we will post them during the next couple of weeks. Check the content on EDRi’s social media channels – on Instagram , Mastodon or LinkedIn.

4. Connecting with global experts to advocate for encryption

During the Global Encryption Summit taking place at 4pm CET, EDRi’s expert Chloé Berthélémy will join a panel in an event organised by Internet Society, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Mozilla, and Global Partners Digital.

What is the threat to encryption?

Europol and law enforcement are pushing to legalise hacking methods that weaken encryption. These methods rely on ordering a service provider (those who develop or maintain the software, computer system, network, or electronic device) to build vulnerabilities in their systems. With this demand, state actors want to enable the police or intelligence agencies to have access to our data and break encryption. Client-side scanning (scanning of all content such as text,images, videos, etc. on a device or shared in a communication channel) is a method proposed under the EU CSA Regulation. Key escrows or “key recovery”, involves placing decryption keys in a “vault” managed by a trusted authority or group of trusted authorities, who can break them out when access to the encrypted data is needed. Finally, ghost proposals refer to the modification of the encryption system to enable a third-party listener to be silently added to encrypted conversations.

Why does Global Encryption Day matter?

In democratic societies, communication systems are vital for our lives and connections with others. Safe and secure communications and devices allow us to work, socialise, organise, express ourselves, and connect with each other.