The European Commission (EC) wants to improve legislation to protect children on the Internet. This was announced by the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ilva Johansson. Excerpts from the conversation with her were published on Sunday, January 9, by the publication Welt am Sonntag.
“Online child sexual abuse is on the rise. In the coming months, I will propose legislation that would oblige companies to identify, report, and address child sexual abuse,” Johansson said, adding that voluntary reporting would not be enough.
According to her, the new rule will primarily affect large Internet companies. At the same time, five such giants account for 99% of such notifications, and only Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc. – Ed.) – 95%. Until recently, corporations were free to decide whether to take action against the online distribution of sexual assault material. The legal basis for this was the relevant EU regulation.
Demand for such materials has grown during the pandemic
Johansson stated that during the pandemic, the demand for such materials increased, and in a number of EU member states at once by 25%.
The European Commissioner said that in 2020 alone, Internet providers and social networks sent 22 million voluntary notifications of such abuses to the relevant authorities. For comparison, in 2019 this figure was 17 million.
Ilva Johansson insists on the creation of an EU special center
The official sees the need to create a special EU center to combat child sexual abuse and prevent it.
Earlier, in May 2021, one of the world’s largest pedophile sites on the darknet was blocked following a months-long investigation. Boystown’s online platform, which included a forum and several chat rooms, has been in operation since at least June 2019 and had over 400,000 members, the Federal Office for Criminal Affairs (BKA) in Wiesbaden said.
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