Ireland urged to push permanent EU online child sexual abuse detection rules

Children's Rights Alliance says Ireland should use its EU presidency to secure lasting protections while balancing online privacy rights

Noeline Blackwell of the Children’s Rights Alliance points a flaw in the temporary measure: It does not include encrypted communications including WhatsApp and Signal. Picture: iStock

The Government is being urged to prioritise a permanent European policy around the detection of child sexual abuse material in private online communications during its European presidential term.

A decision is awaited by the European Council of Ministers on a temporary solution which would mean that tech providers would be allowed to detect child sexual abuse material in private communications which are not encrypted.

On Thursday, the European Parliament voted to accept the temporary solution, with the matter now being referred to the Council of Ministers, which has until early October to decide on whether to accept the measure.

If accepted by the council, the temporary solution would come into effect until next April.

However, online safety co-ordinator with the Children’s Rights Alliance, Noeline Blackwell, points out that the temporary solution is a weaker model than what was in place until last April, as that had covered encrypted communications including WhatsApp and Signal.

That model was allowed to expire last April.

The measure approved in the vote on Thursday is being viewed as a stopgap in place until a more permanent solution is put in place by European decision-makers.

Ireland heads the Council of Ministers

Ms Blackwell said: “It has gone back to the European Council of Ministers again, which is now headed by Ireland as the president, so that is where our focus will be.

“Our preferred position is that they would get on with a permanent directive. In order to have that, we still have to get to a stage where we in the European Union can as effectively ensure that child sexual abuse material is not getting through the platforms and the platforms have to help us with that, as well as ensuring that people’s privacy rights are protected.

“It can’t be the case that we allow child sexual abuse material to flow right through the internet the way it does right now with children exploited not just all over the world, but in Ireland as well. 

Exploited, groomed, found online, damaged online, harmed online. We can’t allow that to continue.

She added that any solution has to be done in such a way “that people don’t have the feeling that suddenly Big Brother has access to every single thing”.

Rape Crisis Ireland executive director Clíona Saidléar said that laws need to be “future-proofed and all-encompassing because what we can’t have is the emergence of crimes and harm that we can’t prosecute.”