Open letter: Politicians warn against EU plans for “chat control”
Published: Tuesday, Jun 18th 2024, 04:20
Back to Live Feed
In an open letter, 36 politicians from Europe have appealed to the EU member states to vote against the so-called chat control to combat sexual violence against children. They are convinced that the proposed measures are incompatible with European fundamental rights, according to the paper, which was made available to the German Press Agency (dpa).
The signatories include FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann and her party colleague Konstantin Kuhle as well as Konstantin von Notz and Emilia Fester from the Greens. In addition to politicians from national parliaments such as Germany and Austria, MEPs also signed the paper.
It went on to say: "We are committed to protecting the right to anonymous and pseudonymous use of the internet and to strengthening end-to-end encryption." All negotiating governments are urgently called upon to reject the current plans.
In 2022, the EU Commission presented a proposal according to which providers such as Google or Facebook could, under certain circumstances, be obliged to use software to search their services for depictions of child abuse. Critics speak of "chat control" and fear mass surveillance. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) also has reservations.
According to the signatories, an approach is needed that focuses, among other things, on protection against child sexual abuse. In addition, more resources and more targeted coordination of European law enforcement authorities are needed.
"Instead of effectively protecting children from sexualized violence online, the compromise draft continues to massively encroach on the protection of everyone's digital privacy," Green MP and German co-initiator Tobias Bacherle told dpa. Maximilian Funke-Kaiser, digital policy spokesperson for the FDP parliamentary group and also a co-initiator, said that the "chat control" would not create any additional security for children, but would lead to the end of private communication via messenger as we know it.
The EU member states are expected to discuss the issue again on Wednesday.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic