Faced with the growth of child pornography and other sexual abuse of minors on the internet, the European Commission proposed a new law to strengthen the work of detecting and monitoring this content. The idea is to encourage the cooperation of companies that offer services on the web to develop prevention strategies.
In Brussels, authorities expressed concern about the rise of these products on the internet. According to official figures, in Europe, reports of child sexual abuse online rose from 23,000 in 2010 to 725,000 in 2019. In 2021, there were more than 85 million cases worldwide, 64% more than in the previous year.
This led the Commission to conclude that the current system for detecting and reporting criminal content voluntarily by companies has become insufficient to track this material. Proof of this is that, in 2020, 95% of complaints were received from a single virtual service company, although the problem is not only present in that company.
The proposal
The new proposal intends to renew Regulation (EU) 2021/1232, approved last year, which is an interim rule to fight against sexual abuse of minors on the internet.
The new bill proposes clearer rules, stronger requirements and greater protection for the detection of illicit content with the least intrusive methods possible, to respect users’ privacy. The regulation will apply to internet service providers operating within the European Union, such as data storage companies, interpersonal communication services, app store and internet access providers.
Detection obligations involve inspection of images and videos of sexual abuse of minors, as well as the well-known child grooming or child grooming, a practice in which adults create emotional and trusting relationships with minors through the web, with the aim of sexually manipulating and exploiting them.
The new measures
Firstly, it is proposed to create in the European Union a center against sexual abuse of minors. This entity will facilitate the efforts of Internet service providers, providing reliable information on identified materials, receiving and analyzing complaints, and offering support to victims.
Companies must assess the risk of misuse of their services in the dissemination of material that contains sexual abuse of minors or grooming. They must also propose measures to mitigate the dangers of using their platforms.
Likewise, the member states of the European Union will designate national authorities responsible for reviewing this assessment and the risks in different web environments. They will have the authority to ask a court or other body to issue a material detection order if there are serious risks. These orders will have deadlines and will be based on specific content.
National authorities may issue takedown orders if the material in question is not quickly removed. Likewise, providers must disable access to images and videos that cannot be removed, for example, because they are on service platforms outside the European Union.
It is now up to the European Parliament and Council to examine the proposal. If approved, it will replace the provisional regulation of 2021. It is hoped that, with the reforms, a more effective joint action will be developed with internet service companies, and, thus, it will be possible to combat more effectively the abuse of minors in web.
©2022 Acpress. Published with permission. original in spanish.
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