The Danish presidency of the EU Council decided to remove the fundamental spying on private chat messages from the legislative plans aimed at combating child sexual abuse material.
Germany, in particular, had opposed a general chat control measure, although there were also supporters within the governing “black-red” coalition. Most recently, Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig (SPD) ruled out her government’s approval for the measure.
Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard justified the step by stating that an agreement on new rules to combat child sexual abuse material would otherwise not have been possible at the EU level. The current rules are already set to expire in April of next year.
Compromise Resembles Current Regulation
“There was a serious risk that we would be left without the instrument we have today for a long period,” said Hummelgaard, adding: “We could not afford that.”
The compromise that EU states are now expected to agree upon resembles the currently valid rules: Accordingly, online platforms may continue to use systems to detect such content—but only on a voluntary basis and not, for instance, by court order. However, internet messengers offering end-to-end encryption have no direct access to the content.
Commission’s Proposal Effectively Fails
Danish Justice Minister Hummelgaard expressed regret that the new EU rules will now “not be the offensive against child sexual abuse that we need.” However, the found compromise is “still better than a real step backwards.”
The EU Commission had proposed in May 2022 to legally obligate internet platforms to conduct mass scanning of private chat messages to detect images of child abuse. Until now, online services like Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp have reported such findings to Brussels on a voluntary basis.
A report by the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation found that 62 percent of the child sexual abuse material identified internationally last year was hosted on servers within the EU.
Data protection advocates, however, saw the legislative plans as constituting a presumption of guilt against all citizens. EU data protection authorities also criticized the proposal.
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