EU Commission Asks Google, Meta And Online Service Providers To Find And Remove Child Porn Content

The proposed new rules from the European Union Commission feel burdensome for Meta Platform Inc. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Google, Meta and other online service providers will be asked to find and remove minor online pornographic content, according to the European Commission's draft new digital rules. This is a move that some privacy groups say could compromise people's communications.

Companies that fail to comply with the rules face fines of up to 6% of their annual revenue or global turnover, which will be set by EU countries.

The EU Executive said Wednesday its proposal aims to replace the voluntary detection and reporting system currently in place as internet companies prove insufficient to protect children.

In 2020, according to the EU there were more than one million reports of child sexual abuse in the bloc of 27 countries, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then there was a 64% increase in the report in 2021 compared to the previous year. In addition, 60% of child sexual abuse materials worldwide are hosted on EU servers.

"The proposed rules introduce an obligation for relevant online service providers to assess the risk of abuse of their services for the dissemination of child sexual abuse material or for grooming," the Commission said in a statement.

Companies must then report and remove known and new images and videos, as well as maintenance cases. The European Union Child Sexual Abuse Center will be set up to act as a center of expertise and to forward reports to the police.

The rules will apply to hosting services and interpersonal communication services such as messaging services, app stores, and internet access providers.

But according to the European Digital Rights lobby group, the Commission's proposal could compromise end-to-end encryption and open the door to authoritarian surveillance tactics. Meta's subsidiary WhatsApp also voiced the same concern.

"It is very disappointing to see EU regulations proposed on the internet fail to protect end-to-end encryption," Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp, said in a tweet.

"It is important that any measures adopted do not undermine the end-to-end encryption that protects the security and privacy of billions of people, including children," a Meta spokesperson said.

But these draft EU rules still need to be discussed with EU countries and EU lawmakers before they can become law.