Mandated Code: Governments’ Stealth Assault on Digital Privacy

Smartphones have become extensions of our lives, granting access to cameras, microphones, GPS, message histories, files, calendars, and contacts. Governments worldwide are increasingly requiring pre-installed software on these devices, creating tools for pervasive tracking, content restriction, and exclusion from services. This trend, accelerating in 2025 and 2026, threatens privacy and free expression by embedding state power directly into personal technology.

Daniel Kahn Gillmor, senior staff technologist at the ACLU, warns that such mandates ‘represent a grave threat to our privacy.’ Apps tied to persistent identifiers build detailed user profiles, while updates can silently add surveillance features. Even benign intentions risk evolution into authoritarian controls, as seen in Russia’s 2025 mandate for the state-linked ‘Max’ app on all smartphones, handling messaging and transactions while sidelining competitors.

India’s Sanchar Saathi app, mandated in 2025 for cybersecurity, accessed messages, calls, cameras, microphones, and files to block stolen devices. Though officially rolled back amid backlash, it persists widely and cannot be disabled. The ACLU highlights how such software equates to ‘the functional equivalent of an ankle bracelet,’ enabling constant monitoring.

Russia and India Pioneer Explicit Mandates

Explicit requirements force hardware vendors to preload apps, discouraging alternatives and enabling revocation of access. VK’s Max app in Russia, tied to state interests, exemplifies this: users risk exclusion from essential services if deemed undesirable. Updates exacerbate risks, as governments or developers introduce new capabilities without user consent.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes that 2025 marked a surge in U.S. state age-verification mandates for adult content and social media, with nine states implementing laws despite evidence of ineffectiveness. Half the U.S. now requires such checks, predicted to expand in 2026, chilling access through privacy invasions.

De facto mandates emerge via incentives: Australia’s Electronic Travel Authority app offers faster visas for a fraction of the web form cost, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Mobile Passport Control shortens lines. China’s WeChat dominates daily life through network effects, censoring content deemed to ‘endanger security.’

De Facto Pressures Mirror Formal Decrees

U.S. digital ID apps in New York and California block jailbroken devices, pushing unmodified hardware. Proposals for age-signaling to apps lack clear mechanics, risking broad surveillance. Historical U.S. efforts like the 1990s Clipper Chip, which proposed backdoored encryption, failed due to civil society opposition and technical flaws, per the ACLU.

Client-side scanning—scanning content on devices before encryption—looms large. The EU’s Chat Control proposal, debated through 2025, mandated such scanning for child abuse material but faced backlash; trilogues continue toward a June 2026 deal, as reported by the World Socialist Web Site. Signal’s Meredith Whittaker stated, ‘If forced to choose between undermining encryption… or leaving Europe, Signal would unfortunately make the decision to leave the market.’

UK proposals for pre-installed nudity filters on devices, extendable to ‘extremism,’ align with Online Safety Act powers for Ofcom to compel scanning by April 2026. X posts from Reclaim The Net warn that Britain’s ‘upload prevention’ scans every encrypted message against government databases, starting with child protection but expanding to dissent.

Client-Side Scanning Undermines Encryption

The EFF fought EU Chat Control and UK demands on Apple for iCloud backdoors, limited to British users but risking global precedent. France rejected ‘ghost participants’ in chats, but threats persist. Age verification spreads, with California’s SB 976 hearing in November 2025 on standards effective by 2026.

Pakistan’s Lawful Intercept Management System, mandated by the PTA, enables military access to calls, texts, and browsing via international vendors, per Amnesty International. China’s door-to-door enforcement of ‘anti-fraud’ apps detects VPNs or foreign calls, alerting police, as documented in X threads by @songpinganq.

U.S. bills like Senator Josh Hawley’s GUARD Act propose AI chatbot age verification with 20-year penalties, while FTC workshops in January 2026 explore technologies. The Freedom House reports global internet freedom declining for 15 years, with identity mandates eroding anonymity.

Global Momentum Builds Despite Pushback

Technical risks abound: client-side scanning creates vulnerabilities exploitable by hackers, as warned by security experts. The WIRED details 2025 moves in UK, France, Sweden, and India to scan chats, contradicting U.S. agencies’ post-Salt Typhoon advice for encryption.

Civil society victories include India’s rollback and EU Chat Control dilutions, but vigilance is key. The EFF vows to challenge mandates, emphasizing users’ preference for privacy over invasive gates. Policymakers must prioritize open ecosystems and ‘right to paper’ options over compelled software.

As mandates proliferate—explicit in autocracies, veiled in democracies—the core issue remains: governments embedding code grants inescapable oversight. Industry insiders watch 2026 trilogues, state laws, and Ofcom deadlines, bracing for a pivotal year in digital rights.