MEPs want substantive changes to controversial EU ‘chat-scanning’ measures which are aimed at fighting child sexual abuse material online, while agreeing to again extend the current ‘temporary’ rules.
In 2021, the EU implemented a set of time-limited rules to combat child sexual abuse online (CSAM), which were only intended to last until permanent legislation was passed.
Included in the law is a hotly-disputed measure that law allows Big Tech companies are scan people’s texts and images, in order to find any CSAM or the potential solicitation of children.
But now in 2026, with permanent legislation still months away, the European Commission is asking the council and parliament to approve another extension of these ‘temporary’ rules, until 2028.
In a significant margin of 458 in favour, 103 against, the parliament voted on Wednesday (11 March), to agree to extend the temporary measures, but they want to substantively narrow the scope of the chat-scanning measures.
It’s a move that sets up an institutional clash, as neither the European Commission nor the council wants anything changed in the legislation.
German Socialists & Democrats MEP Birgit Sippel, who led the file, explained after the vote that the changes are “necessary and justified for a proportionate framework, that will withstand judicial scrutiny and provide sustainable protection for children.”
The parliament text removes the proactive scanning language from the law, and narrows the grounds significantly.
The MEPs want the measures used only for the detection of previously known material — or material reported by trusted flaggers.
And it should only be applied to users or groups where there are grounds for suspicion that have been identified by a competent judicial authority.
“Monitoring should only apply to the communications of suspected individuals and only with judicial authorisation,” said Green Czech MEP Markéta Gregorová.
The law also clarifies that scanning is not allowed for messages that use, have used, or will use end-to-end encryption.
“This is an important step forward for protecting Europeans’ fundamental rights,” Gregorová added.
Clock ticking
The pressure is mounting to officially extend the 2021 temporary framework, which is set to expire in three weeks, on 3 April.
And the talks for adopting the permanent rules, which only began in November, are set to continue into the summer.
Therefore, the European Council agreed to the commission's extension proposal, with no amendments of their own, back in January.
But parliament's position seemed up in the air. Last week, the original parliament draft was rejected, 38 to 28, by the MEPs in the civil liberties committee.
The centre-right European People's Party and Greens rejected the original draft.
A parliament official told EUobserver that the EPP opposed the original compromise because “it was seen as limiting in terms of the negotiations on the permanent framework.”
But after its failure, the text was still moved to a full parliament vote.
Rather than rejecting the proposal outright, the MEPs chose the accept an amended text — throwing a wrench into institutional hopes of passage without amendments.
The file on the temporary measures was referred back to the civil liberties committee, with a talk now scheduled for Thursday.
Owen Carpenter-Zehe