> My goodness, I couldn't imagine a stupider way to fight CSAM.
That's the point. It satisfies the letter of the demands from the crazies, while not actually accomplishing anything, and creating discourse in the rest of the population to work towards realizing that we shouldn't be bending to the whims of the crazies at all.
But that doesn’t work, because the crazies will simply take this victory and move the goalposts forward. They’ll do so emboldened by your capitulation and shame you for not acquiescing earlier.
It was becoming clear that the goalposts were going to move forward towards outlawing end-to-end encryption entirely. This provides malicious compliance to prevent worse.
That's the point. It satisfies the letter of the demands from the crazies, while not actually accomplishing anything, and creating discourse in the rest of the population to work towards realizing that we shouldn't be bending to the whims of the crazies at all.