EU votes to stop allowing social media platforms detect child sex abuse material

Children’s Rights Alliance’s online safety co-ordinator Noeline Blackwell. Picture: Naoise Culhane

A failure by the European Parliament to extend rules for the detection of child sexual abuse material in private online chats has been criticised by human rights advocates as placing online privacy above child safety.

A vote by the European Parliament not to extend the rules beyond April 3 means tech providers will not be allowed to detect child sexual abuse material in private communications from Friday. 

While 228 MEPs voted in favour of extending the current rules, 311 voted against it. There were 92 abstentions.

A statement from the European Parliament said: “The purpose of the proposed extension was to continue temporary measures while negotiations continue on a long-term legal framework to prevent and combat child sexual abuse online.”

The move not to extend the agreement, in place since 2022, has been condemned by children’s rights groups and some tech industry organisations.

Children’s Rights Alliance’s online safety co-ordinator Noeline Blackwell said: “The whole issue about how children are to be protected from really pernicious criminal activity online doesn’t get the same level of attention as reducing the capacity to monitor material by the platforms.

“The whole issue of data privacy is so highly regarded by the European institutions and by the majority of parliamentarians who voted on this issue, without any apparent equal concern for children.”

Ms Blackwell asked how legislators are going to protect children from predators.

“This is about are they going to suffer some of the most horrific abuse and exploitation that any child could suffer,” she said.

“No child should have to encounter it and certainly they should be protected from it. That same level of urgency and conviction is not there to protect children as it is to protect the privacy and freedom of speech.”

Following the European Parliament vote, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) privacy and safety lead, Claudia Canelles Quaroni, said EU legislators are pushing online platforms into a legal vacuum.

“In the immediate future, we urgently need assurances from regulators that online platforms that continue detecting and reporting child sex abuse material will not be penalised for non-compliance with the ePrivacy Directive until lawmakers rapidly agree on a clear solution,” she said.

Ms Canelles Quaroni added: “This looming legal vacuum underlines the urgent need for a long-term CSAM regulation that provides lasting legal certainty. Europe cannot continue to rely on last-minute extensions.”