Danish Presidency backs away from 'chat control'

TL&DR there’s a local win but it’s not over yet. We need to push so that even “voluntary” surveillance is not allowed. Full post below.

The Danes will seek to propose a voluntary detection regime in the CSAM proposal, instead of controversial mandatory detection orders

The Danish Council presidency is backing away from pushing for mandatory detection orders in a legislative proposal that aims to tackle the spread of online Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), the country’s justice minister said on Thursday.

Earlier in their presidency, Denmark had revived a controversial provision in the draft law that would mean online platforms – such as messaging apps – could be served with mandatory CSAM detection orders, including services protected by end-to-end encryption. However opposition from several other EU countries derailed any agreement in the Council.

Today, Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told local press that the Council presidency would move away from mandatory detection orders – and instead support CSAM detections remaining voluntary.

The presidency circulated a discussion paper with EU country representatives on Thursday, aiming to gather countries’ views on the updated (softened) proposal in a bid to find a compromise, Euractiv understands.

The Danes are concerned that if no agreement is reached on the proposal even voluntary scanning will not happen once the current legal scheme that enables that runs out in April 2026.

The CSAM proposal – dubbed “chat control” by opponents – has repeatedly failed to achieve support in Council, which has spent years trying and failing to agree its negotiating mandate.

Earlier this month, Germany’s justice minister came out against the plan, with a strong-worded public statement that attacked “unjustified chat monitoring”.

The mandatory detection orders contained in the original Commission proposal have proven to be the biggest sticking point – triggering major privacy and security concerns.

Critics warn that such an approach risks opening the door to mass surveillance of European citizens, as well as pointing out that it would run counter to existing EU laws that seek to ensure data protection and the privacy of communications.

If the Danes manage to find a compromise in Council on a version of the CSAM proposal that strips out mandatory detection orders the draft law could progress towards trilogue negotiations with Parliament, finally moving on from years of deadlock.