Denmark Pushes for Child Sexual Abuse Scanning Bill in EU, Could Be Adopted by October 2025
Denmark reintroduces the controversial Chat Control proposal, aiming to scan encrypted messages for child sexual abuse material (CSAM), with a potential adoption date of October 2025.
Denmark has reintroduced the contentious child sexual abuse material (CSAM) scanning bill as part of its EU Presidency agenda.
The proposal, which aims to require messaging services to scan all communications, including encrypted ones, for CSAM, could be adopted as early as October 14, 2025.
This initiative, known as Chat Control, has faced significant opposition due to concerns over privacy and encryption.
Critics argue that the scanning of encrypted messages undermines the security and privacy of communications.
Despite past setbacks in gaining majority support, Denmark is pushing for a compromise that could address concerns while strengthening law enforcement’s ability to combat online crime.
The bill would require messaging platforms to implement 'client-side scanning' for CSAM, which raised privacy concerns and led to a European Court of Human Rights ruling against weakening encryption.
A revised version proposed in 2024 by Belgium suggested scanning only shared photos, videos, and URLs with user consent.
However, this was also met with resistance.
Poland’s 2025 proposal to make encrypted chat scanning voluntary also failed to gain traction.
As the Danish Presidency seeks to find a middle ground, the proposal faces a crucial test with Germany, whose stance remains undecided.
The proposal is part of broader EU efforts to combat online crime, with the EU Commission also launching its ProtectEU strategy, aiming to enable law enforcement to decrypt private data by 2030.
The proposal, which aims to require messaging services to scan all communications, including encrypted ones, for CSAM, could be adopted as early as October 14, 2025.
This initiative, known as Chat Control, has faced significant opposition due to concerns over privacy and encryption.
Critics argue that the scanning of encrypted messages undermines the security and privacy of communications.
Despite past setbacks in gaining majority support, Denmark is pushing for a compromise that could address concerns while strengthening law enforcement’s ability to combat online crime.
The bill would require messaging platforms to implement 'client-side scanning' for CSAM, which raised privacy concerns and led to a European Court of Human Rights ruling against weakening encryption.
A revised version proposed in 2024 by Belgium suggested scanning only shared photos, videos, and URLs with user consent.
However, this was also met with resistance.
Poland’s 2025 proposal to make encrypted chat scanning voluntary also failed to gain traction.
As the Danish Presidency seeks to find a middle ground, the proposal faces a crucial test with Germany, whose stance remains undecided.
The proposal is part of broader EU efforts to combat online crime, with the EU Commission also launching its ProtectEU strategy, aiming to enable law enforcement to decrypt private data by 2030.
