EU agreement fails: "Voluntary chat control" ends
Messengers scan chats to combat child abuse. The necessary exception to EU law is now ending - a renewed extension has failed.
(Image: Michele Ursi/Shutterstock.com)
The extension of the voluntary monitoring of private communication on the internet by online platforms in the EU has failed. Negotiators from EU states and the parliament could not agree on a compromise, as a spokeswoman for the Cypriot Council Presidency announced on Monday.
The current regulation, also known as “voluntary chat control,” expires on April 3rd. A temporary exception to European data protection rules allows messaging services to scan message histories to detect prohibited depictions of child sexual abuse.
Long-term solution sought
The EU is actually aiming for a long-term solution for legal provisions to protect children on the internet, which should enable providers to search their users' communications for depictions of child abuse. As negotiations on this are stalled, the current, but temporary, exception was to be extended again.
MEPs in the European Parliament voted last week to extend the rules until August 3, 2027. Furthermore, their proposal provides for only controlling users identified as suspects by judicial authorities, thus no longer scanning all chats across the board.
No compromise
However, the EU states wanted to establish the voluntary and far-reaching control by apps and platforms as a permanent solution by law and were rebuffed in parliament for it. Three years after coming into force, the EU Commission was then to examine whether an obligation for providers would still be necessary. Both sides apparently could not agree on a compromise.
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MEP Birgit Sippel (SPD), responsible for the law in the European Parliament, announced that, given the expiring transitional regulation, law enforcement agencies must be strengthened and “their capacities for the proportionate combating of the dissemination of material on child sexual abuse on the internet” expanded. This brings efforts for a long-term solution back into focus.
Providers of messaging services automatically scan their platforms for digital traces of child pornography. Because this violates the EU directive on the protection of privacy, the EU hastily created an exception rule in 2021.
The obligation for messengers to monitor chats without cause, which was significantly driven by the EU Commission, had failed due to the resistance of some member states, including Germany. The voluntary option was intended to ensure on a transitional basis that providers could continue their scans.
(vbr)
