The proposal does not suggest mass surveillance of private communications
BRUSSELS – The proposed regulation for preventing and combating the sexual abuse of children does not foresee general monitoring of online communication, nor any ‘chat control’, said Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert on Friday.
“There is no general monitoring of online communication, there will not be anything like ‘chat control’. What will happen is that companies will have to detect material related to the sexual abuse of children. Detection is very different from general monitoring or general surveillance,” Lammert said in response to a journalist’s question.
The proposed regulation for preventing and combating the sexual abuse of children, often referred to as ‘chat control’, has faced numerous criticisms that it would allegedly allow law enforcement agencies to conduct mass surveillance of the private communication of all citizens of the European Union, even in applications that have ‘end-to-end’ message encryption.
“Only material that is clearly identified as material related to the sexual abuse of children will be sought and can be detected, we are talking about images and videos. This will be clearly defined, and the conditions will be monitored by data protection authorities,” the spokesperson said.
“Detection orders can only be issued by judicial or independent administrative bodies after a very thorough assessment of necessity and proportionality,” Lammert emphasized.
He added that companies are already allowed to detect such material, according to a temporary regulation currently in force, which provides for this on a voluntary basis.
The temporary regulation is valid until April 2026, therefore the Commission encourages negotiations on the proposed regulation to begin as soon as possible to establish a solid and permanent legal framework. (September 5, 2025)
