Overview
- The Danish EU Council presidency removed blanket chat surveillance from its child safety proposal after failing to secure backing from member states.
- The draft would codify providers’ ability to detect and report child sexual abuse material on a voluntary basis, dropping detection orders and leaving end-to-end encrypted services untouched.
- Germany had ruled out supporting a general mandate, and Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig welcomed the shift, with EU diplomats confirming there is no majority for compulsory scanning.
- Council deliberations and a trilogue with Parliament and the Commission still loom, and the Commission has flagged legal reservations about entrenching a voluntary regime.
- Privacy watchdogs opposed mass scanning, providers already report some content voluntarily, Signal warned it would leave the EU if forced to weaken encryption, and the IWF says 62% of identified CSAM was hosted in the EU last year.