The European Commission warned today that AI-generated pictures and other deepfakes portraying child sexual abuse (CSA) might be criminalized under proposals to modernize legislation to keep up with technology.
It proposes a new crime of livestreaming child sexual assault. The EU plans to criminalize the possession and exchange of “pedophile manuals” as part of a larger package of measures to prevent CSA, including raising awareness of online risks and making it easier for victims to report crimes and get support, including financial compensation.
The plan to revise the EU’s 2011 regulations includes mandatory offense reporting modifications. 
The Commission introduced a separate CSA-related draft legislation in May 2022 to require digital services to use automated technologies to detect and report child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on their platforms and identify and report child grooming activity.
The CSAM-scanning plan continues to divide lawmakers in the parliament and Council, raise suspicions about the Commission’s ties to child safety tech lobbyists, and raise other awkward questions for the EU’s executive, such as its use of microtargeted ads to promote the proposal.
The Commission’s strategy to target digital messaging platforms to combat CSA has drawn criticism that the bloc’s lawmakers are focusing on the wrong area for a complex social issue, which may have put pressure on it to propose additional measures. The Commission calls today’s package “complementary” to its prior CSAM-scanning plan.
However, in the less than two years since the controversial private message-scanning plan was presented, attention to deepfakes and AI-generated imagery has increased, including concerns that the technology is being abused to produce CSAM and that this synthetic content could make it harder for law enforcement to identify genuine victims. Thus, the rapid rise of generative AI has prompted policymakers to reconsider the laws.
In a news statement today, the Commission said, “Both the increased online presence of children and the technological developments create new possibilities for abuse.” The measure also seeks to “reduce the pervasive impunity of online child sexual abuse and exploitation.”
Before submitting the plan, the Commission undertook an impact study that noted youngsters’ growing online presence and “latest technological developments” as offering new CSA opportunities. It also expressed worry about legislative frameworks in member states hindering abuse prevention and victim assistance and wants to strengthen the present “limited” efforts.
In a supporting statement, Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said fast-changing technology is providing new opportunities for child sexual abuse online, making it harder for law enforcement to investigate this highly serious and widespread crime. “We are taking a crucial step to ensure we have effective legal tools to rescue children and bring perpetrators to justice with a strong criminal law. We are implementing the EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse, unveiled in July 2020.”
On internet safety hazards for minors, the Commission wants member states to engage more in “awareness raising.”
Like the CSAM-scanning plan, the EU’s Parliament and Council co-legislators will shape the suggestions. There’s little time for negotiations before legislative elections and a college of commissioners reboot later this year; however, today’s CSA-combating plans may be less polarizing than the message-scanning plan. So it might be adopted while the other is stuck.
According to the Commission, if any CSA directive amendments are approved, they will take effect 20 days following publication in the EU Official Journal.
