Lawmakers from across the European Union have called on member states to vote against plans by the bloc’s executive to require tech companies to monitor their platforms for child sexual abuse content.

The 36 lawmakers cited data security concerns in their distress calls.

In an open letter, the politicians said they were convinced the proposed measures were incompatible with EU basic rights.

The European Commission in 2022 presented the proposed Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse, designed to curb the spread of material showing the sexual abuse of children.

The law would make it compulsory for social media platforms to scan private encrypted chats on social media platforms for certain identifiers.

According to them, this might flag child grooming or the sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and to report any suspicious activity.

Under current law, monitoring online activity is voluntary.

Critics have slammed the proposed measure as “chat control.”

They saw it as an attempt to scan all online communication, including encrypted messages, raising fears of mass surveillance.

EU member states’ representatives are expected to discuss the issue on Wednesday.

Legislators from national parliaments and the European Parliament signed the open letter calling on members to vote against the proposal.

This includes monitoring from Germany and Austria.

In the letter, the lawmakers call for protecting the right to anonymous and pseudonymous use of the Internet and strengthening end-to-end encryption.

To effectively combat child sexual abuse, more resources and targeted coordination among European law enforcement authorities are needed, they said.

“Instead of effectively protecting children from sexualised violence online, the compromise draft continues to massively encroach on the protection of everyone’s digital privacy,” co-initiator Tobias Bacherle, a lawmaker for the German Green Party, said.

(dpa/NAN)