The European Council of the EU adopted a regulation extending a provisional measure aimed at combating online child sexual abuse until 3 April 2026.
The order upholds an exemption from data protection rules which allows providers of messaging services to use specific technologies for the processing of personal and other data to detect online child sexual abuse on their services, to report and to remove it.
The extension also provides that providers are obligated to make the information about the reports of detected online child sexual abuse they submit to the authorities and the Commission available in a clear format to facilitate authorities in their efforts to gather comprehensive reporting and comparable statistics.
The regulation enters into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. It is directly applicable in all member states.
The derogation, first agreed in 2021 and now extended until 3 April 2026 will bridge the gap until a new EU law, currently on the table of the Council and the European Parliament, offers a long-term legal framework for the detection of online child sexual abuse.
