The European Council came to an agreement on Wednesday (26 November) on a controversial regulation aiming to curb the spread and solicitation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online – popularly dubbed ‘chat-control’.
Since 2022, a proposal to mitigate CSAM online has been stuck in the council due to a controversial article which would have required online messaging services to scan user text messages for URLs and images of CSAM, and send flagged content to a new proposed EU authority. However, the Danish council presidency passed a new text removing the mandatory detection orders in a bid to find a compromise.
“I’m glad that the member states have finally agreed on a way forward that includes a number of obligations for providers of communication services to combat the spread of child sexual abuse material,” said Peter Hummelgaard, Danish minister for justice.
This passage adds more momentum to establishing specific online child protection laws in the near future.
The compromise
The Danish presidency had pushed for mandatory scanning, but many member states, like Germany, were outspokenly opposed to the measure, and pressure was mounting as the current, temporary, online CSAM regulation was set to expire in early 2026 – this led to the compromise.
The approved proposal removes the mandatory detection orders, rather than enshrining voluntary ones from the temporary CSAM legislation as a mitigation measure; establishes responsibilities for a new EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse; adds age-verification requirements; and creates the power for relevant national authorities to order content blocked, or delisted on online services.
It also establishes a mandatory risk assessment system, requiring companies to analyse their services, with national authorities reviewing the reports and categorising them as low, medium, or high; companies deemed high risk may be obligated to improve their services.
Owen Carpenter-Zehe