The chat applications in question are private spaces (with terms based on the owner / host of the space).

Streets are public spaces, with all the possibility of observation by an observer that entails.

The two are not at all similar, at least under US law. It seems the EU is taking a similar stance.

I'd rather have a public camera in my bedroom than a recording of every conversation I've ever had with anyone stored and searchable by governments, police, and the inevitable dark scammer for all eternity.

That is not to say that cameras everywhere aren't dystopian. But their existence doesn't undermine the added danger of chat control.