European governments have confirmed a temporary regime allowing messaging services to voluntarily deploy measures to detect suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM), preserving a carve-out for end-to-end encrypted messages previously introduced by MEPs.
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On Wednesday, EU ambassadors approved the written procedure for the temporary framework, derogating from the bloc’s rules on the privacy of electronic communications to combat the spread of the illegal content.
Written procedures are normally employed for relatively non-controversial files and allow member states to give their voting preference without a formal meeting. On Thursday, the file was confirmed as adopted with 25 governments in favour; only one voted against while another abstained.
In other words, the member states confirmed the text as it passed in the European Parliament earlier this month, including a last-minute amendment removing end-to-end encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal from its scope.
The temporary measure has proved controversial, with privacy advocates, who have branded it “chat control,” warning of a dangerous precedent for scanning people’s private messages.
The European Parliament voted against prolonging the measure in March, and it duly lapsed in April. However, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola put the file back on the table at the request of the European People’s Party.
As a result, earlier this month the European Parliament voted to extend the temporary regime until 3 April 2028, even as EU policymakers continue negotiating a permanent solution that would introduce binding rules rather than voluntary measures.
In a last-minute move, centre-left lawmakers introduced a significant amendment excluding end-to-end encryption from the scope, a manoeuvre that privacy-minded lawmakers hoped would push member states to reject the text altogether.
“A clear majority wanted to limit the scope to known CSAM and include targeted measures,” Birgit Sippel (Germany/Socialists & Democrats), the MEP leadingthe file, said after parliament adopted the move. “However, due to procedural constraints requiring a qualified majority for amendments to be adopted, we were only able to highlight the crucial protection of end-to-end encryption.”
Last week, the European Commission delivered a favourable opinion on the parliamentary amendments, prompting member states to adopt the file without further negotiation with MEPs.
Despite the exclusion of end-to-end encrypted messaging services from the scope of the derogation, several MEPs are still critical of its content.
“Any scanning of the content of private communications must be limited to specific suspects,” MEP Ignazio Marino (Greens/EFA/Italy) told Euronews. His group voted to reject the temporary regime’s prolongation outright; it was joined by radical left and far-right parties to assemble a total of 276 lawmakers against the provisional scheme.
Other political groups split during the vote, signalling internal disagreement on the issue. In particular, the centre-left Socialists & Democrats were mostly in favour of the extension, but rapporteur Sippel was among the 20 MEPs voting against it.
Sceptic lawmakers argue that child protection should not be pursued at the expense of EU citizens’ privacy and by violating the right to secret communications.
“No child is helped by a law that will be annulled by the Court of Justice,” Marino said.