The European Parliament is set to vote again this week on controversial legislation that would allow technology companies to scan online communications for child sexual abuse material. This time, it will be voted under different voting rules, which will make it easier to be approved, thanks to a political move by the European People’s Party.
A legal framework that expired on 3 April has allowed platforms such as WhatsApp and Messenger to take voluntary measures derogating from e-privacy rules to identify users suspected of sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
While a new version of the law is being discussed, a temporary extension of this scheme was proposed by the European Commission and rejected by the European Parliament in March, with 311 votes against, 228 in favour and 92 abstentions.
The legislation has been dubbed “chat control” by its critics, due to its privacy implications, particularly its effect on end-to-end encrypted communications.
“Children are protected by smart enforcement, not by scanning the private messages of millions of innocent people,” Greens/EFA MEP Ignazio Marino told Euronews, defining the law as a “mass surveillance”.
A move to get the upper hand
But the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest group in the Parliament, revived the temporary extension through a rarely used legislative procedure.
EPP MEPs largely voted against it in March, because of some amendments to the original text introduced by the Socialist rapporteur Birgit Sippel and other left-wing lawmakers, aimed at restricting the scope of the scanning, center-right group officials told Euronews.
EPP leader Manfred Weber has been pushing for the extension to be adopted without any changes and found a way to make it happen.
According to people familiar with the matter, on 17 June the EPP requested the Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola to push forward with the interim file and no other group objected.
The day after, Metsola urged the EU leaders to “move on” with legislation during her intervention at the EU summit, and member states subsequently agreed to reinstate the interim measure last week.
The version of the extension adopted by EU countries has no substantive changes and would allow online service providers to detect, report and remove online child sexual abuse until 2028.
It now has to be greenlit by Parliament, but the EPP’s move entails a procedural twist that gives supporters of the legislation a significant advantage.
Under the “ordinary legislative procedure”, a text is adopted unless an absolute majority of all the MEPs – at least 361 – reject or amend it.
Despite its name, this procedure is seldom used in drafting EU law, as Parliament and Council often adopt their own position on single bills and then negotiate the details of the final version.
“Usually, when the Parliament rejects a text, the Council stops working on it and the Commission eventually withdraws it. Now, we are forced into a second vote that questions the essence of democracy,” Greens/MEP Markéta Gregorová told Euronews, blaming the EPP for imposing their priorities through an unusual move.
The vote on the extension will be held on Thursday, if the Parliament approves on Tuesday the urgent procedure requested by the EPP, which is pushing to adopt the interim rules as soon as possible.
Rapporteur Birgit Sippel has been contacted for this article.