‘Irresponsible failure’: Google, Meta, Snap and Microsoft slam EU over child sexual abuse law lapse

Major tech companies condemn EU Parliament's failure to renew a key child safety law, warning a legal gap will allow abuse to go undetected. | Contesto: cronaca

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• ‘Irresponsible failure’: Google, Meta, Snap and Microsoft slam EU over child sexual abuse law lapse

Contesto

Brussels, April 4 – In a rare show of unity, four of the world's largest technology companies have issued a scathing rebuke of the European Parliament, labeling its inaction an "irresponsible failure" after lawmakers allowed a critical child protection law to lapse. Google, Meta, Snap, and Microsoft have jointly condemned the decision not to extend a temporary regulation that permitted them to proactively scan private messages for evidence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), grooming, and sextortion. The law, a carve-out from the EU's broader privacy rules, officially expired on April 3, creating an immediate legal void that companies and child safety advocates warn will cripple detection efforts across the continent. The expired measure was originally instituted in 2021 as a provisional fix, granting technology platforms a legal basis to deploy automated detection tools within encrypted and private messaging services. Without this specific legal authorization, companies argue their hands are now tied; they risk violating the EU's stringent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy laws if they continue the same level of intrusive scanning. This legal paralysis comes despite the companies' stated desire to maintain their detection systems. "We have no choice but to disable or significantly scale back these tools," a spokesperson for one of the involved firms stated, highlighting the direct operational impact of the parliamentary blockade. Child protection experts are sounding alarms, predicting a sharp and immediate decline in the reporting of online child exploitation. Their fears are grounded in recent history: during a similar legal gap in 2021, before the temporary law was enacted, reports of CSAM from EU-based companies to authorities plummeted by 58%. That precedent suggests a dangerous period now lies ahead where vast quantities of abusive material could circulate undetected. "This isn't a theoretical risk," warned one leading safety advocate. "We have concrete data showing what happens when these tools are turned off. Children will be put in harm's way because the digital sentinels have been ordered to stand down." The European...

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Categoria: cronaca