French National Assembly Rejects Encryption Backdoor
As French Lawmakers debate the new Drug Trafficking Act, the National Assembly voted to scrap a controversial amendment from the French senate, which experts warned posed an existential threat to digital privacy in the country.
Written by Aleksander Hougen (Co-Chief Editor)
Reviewed by Jackie Leavitt (Co-Chief Editor)
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In what feels like a rare bit of good news on encryption, France has rejected a controversial new proposal that would’ve called for a backdoor into all encrypted messaging and email applications.
The proposal came in the form of Article 8 of the Drug Trafficking Act, a bill that is currently being drafted in the French National Assembly. If adopted, the article would have required every encrypted messaging service and secure email client to provide backdoor access into their encrypted user data, should the authorities request it.
Security experts, digital rights advocates and the CNIL (the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty — France’s independent privacy watchdog) had been ringing the alarm bells for weeks, warning that a backdoor created for the authorities could just as easily be abused by malicious actors.
The steering committee of the Global Encryption Coalition (a digital privacy advocacy group composed of various organizations and companies) published an open letter on March 4, 2025, calling for the complete removal of Article 8 from the new law, stating:
“By forcing companies to undermine end-to-end encryption with encryption backdoors, the legislation will leave France less safe against criminals and foreign adversaries. As France faces the real threat of cyberwarfare, ensuring that French citizens, companies, and institutions have access to end-to-end encrypted communications is more vital than ever.”
— Steering committee, Global Encryption Coalition
The letter went on to point out that if the article was passed, it would result in a lose-lose situation for French digital privacy, as encrypted services would be left with the choice of leaving the French market or fundamentally compromising user security and privacy.
Although Article 8 was passed by the French Senate, the National Assembly fortunately decided to listen to security experts and threw the provision out.
This turn of events comes as across the channel, the U.K. government is doubling down on its anti-encryption stance, trying to force a backdoor into Apple’s ADP and quietly removing encryption advice from its websites. Privacy advocates have clearly won a big battle in France today, but the war on encryption is far from over.