Big tech platforms will once again be allowed to voluntarily scan private messages on social media platforms for child sexual abuse material (CSAM), after the European Parliament last week revived a derogation to e-Privacy rules that it had previously struck down in March.
In what critics have described as a political manoeuvre using a legal loophole, the EU’s temporary CSAM framework was brought back to the table in a vote in Strasbourg on July 9. Although more MEPs opposed it than supported it, the absolute majority needed to reject it was not reached.