An EU bill to scan all private communications to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is back on regulators’ agenda. What critics call chat control has undergone many twists and turns since the European Commission introduced the first version of the bill in May 2022. The most recent development came in October 2024, when a last-minute decision by the Netherlands to abstain from the vote led the Hungarian president to remove the issue from the planned debate.
Now, almost two months later, the controversial proposal has been introduced again and is one of the items to be discussed at the Council of the EU today, 4 December 2024.
What is the EU Bill on CSAM Scanning?
As mentioned above, despite growing criticism from the privacy, technology and policy sectors, lawmakers have implemented some changes to the EU CSAM law.
The original plan was to require messaging services and email providers to scan all messages, whether encrypted or not, such as WhatsApp and Signal chats, for illegal content to ensure confidentiality of communications between senders and recipients.
Lawmakers proposed using so-called client-side scanning, a technique that experts, including some of the best VPN providers and messaging apps, have long warned against, as it cannot be carried out without breaking encryption protections. Even the UK has put this requirement on hold under the Online Safety Act until it is “technically feasible”.
The second version of the EU proposal in June 2024 aims to cover photos, videos and URLs shared with the user’s permission, instead of text and voice messages. But there is a caveat: to continue using this feature, users must consent to scanning shared material before encryption.
This wording infuriated privacy experts, with Meredith Whitaker, president of the Signal Foundation, instead calling this so-called “upload moderation” a “rhetorical game.”
In September, another version of the Politico leaked: Telecommunications providers will be free to decide whether to use artificial intelligence to flag images and text chats as suspicious. However, these companies will be required by law to scan and report all user chats if they find illegal content.
Recent data from the European Pirate Party shows that a majority of countries have already expressed their support for the new proposal. Even former opponents such as France have now joined the supporters.
At the time of writing, only a few EU member states are undecided (Italy, Portugal, Finland) or opposed (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia).
However, this may change after the December 4 meeting.
