Following on from our article on point 1 of the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse:

2. Ensure that EU legislation enables an effective response.

As well as ensuring proper implementation of the current legislation, the Commission intends to assess whether the Child Abuse Directive requires updating.

One element of this, and a matter of priority, concerns the Proposal for a Regulation, currently being discussed by the European Parliament as an update for the 2002 e-privacy Directive. The proposal prevents certain companies from continuing voluntary detection, removal and reporting of child sexual abuse online.

The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children published that of the 16.9 million reports they received in 2019, 99% came from electronic service providers. The European Commission have proposed a derogation which will ensure that reports such as these can continue and ensuring people with a sexual interest in children cannot store and share their collections of CSAM on European online platforms without fear of being detected.

INHOPE wrote a letter to the LIBE committee expressing our support for this derogation. To raise awareness we also launched a “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” campaign and webpage. Join us in calling on the LIBE Committee and the whole European Parliament to pass the temporary derogation that allows for the continued detection of child sexual abuse material on electronic service providers’ platforms.

Read about Point 3 of the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse here.

Source: EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse