By Mar Negreiro  

Online child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and grooming practices (manipulation aimed at exploiting and abusing people), now increasingly targeting younger children, have been proliferating at an alarming rate. In 2023, the more than 36.2 million reports of suspected online child sexual abuse represented a historical peak.Reports of groomingrose by more than 300% between 2021 and 2023. Most activities detected were hosted in Europe. In response to this situation, on 11 May 2022 the European Commission adopted a proposal for long-term rules to prevent and combat child abuse. The Commission proposal would require interpersonal communication services, such as webmail messaging services and internet telephony, as well as others, to proactively detect online CSAM materials and activities involving child grooming. However, this poses many concerns regarding privacy, security and law enforcement investigations. The proposal also provides for the establishment of an EU centre to support the implementation and supervision of the new rules. In the European Parliament,the file has been assigned to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE).Parliament adopted the LIBEreport at first reading on 22 November 2023, along with the committee recommendation to enter into interinstitutional negotiations. The Council is still working on its common position under the Hungarian Presidency, where a blocking minority of countries persists.  

Luxembourg: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2024. 12p.