EU Parliament to criminalising AI-generated child abuse material
The European Parliament voted on Tuesday overwhelmingly in favour of a directive that would criminalise the creation, possession and sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generated using artificial intelligence. The text also covers offences related to grooming, sextortion, and livestreamed abuse, while addressing legal definitions and age of consent issues across the EU.
The vote passed with 599 in favour, just two against, and 62 abstentions - an unusually broad consensus from the entire political spectrum for such a sensitive file.
'It will be treated in exactly the same as if it were real child abuse material,' Jeroen Lenaers (Netherlands/European People's Party), the lawmaker leading the file, told Euronews. 'Because we know that these models, first of all, they need to train on real child sexual abuse material and secondly, we see that using AI child sexual use material is a very small step to actually moving on to real child sexual abuse.'
Recent research by Helsinki-based non-profit Protect Children highlights a link between viewing abusive content and committing contact offences against children, even if a direct causal link has not been proven. According to the study, 52% of respondents said they feared viewing such material could lead them to commit abuse. Meanwhile, 44% said it made them consider seeking contact with a minor, and 37% admitted to having acted on those thoughts.
Lenaers told Euronews that AI-generated child abuse material has increased by over 1,000% in the past year alone.
The Parliament's position was welcomed by both tech industry players and child protection advocates. In a joint statement, DotEurope, a Brussels based tech lobby group representing among others OpenAI, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta - and Eclag (European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group) said: 'We are happy to be joining forces for the first time to tackle the danger posed by AI for child sexual abuse at EU level. Hopefully, we can continue to find ways to work together to make online child sexual abuse history.'
However, Tuesday's vote is not the final step. Negotiations will now begin between the Parliament, the Council of the EU, which represents national governments, and the European Commission. These 'trilogue' talks will determine the final shape of the law.
The Council adopted its own position in December, but stopped short of including the criminalisation of AI-generated child abuse material — prompting strong calls from MEPs, industry and advocacy groups for ministers to align with Parliament.
Age of consent also proved divisive during the Council's negotiations. A coalition of seven countries - Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Sweden - issued a joint statement warning that, while children who reach the age of sexual consent may legally agree to sexual acts, they remain especially vulnerable and need strong legal protection.
The proposed directive goes beyond AI imagery. It introduces a shared legal framework across the EU to combat online child abuse, with clear definitions of 'grooming' and 'sextortion' as crimes. It also seeks to outlaw the livestreaming of abusive acts, lift time limits for reporting sexual abuse, recognising that many victims come forward only years later, and ban so-called 'paedophile handbooks', which provide instructions on how to manipulate children and evade detection.
During the plenary debate, Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner called for ambition and unity: 'We cannot be ambitious enough. There is no more important priority than protecting our children.'
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The vote passed with 599 in favour, just two against, and 62 abstentions - an unusually broad consensus from the entire political spectrum for such a sensitive file. 'It will be treated in exactly the same as if it were real child abuse material,' Jeroen Lenaers (Netherlands/European People's Party), the lawmaker leading the file, told Euronews. 'Because we know that these models, first of all, they need to train on real child sexual abuse material and secondly, we see that using AI child sexual use material is a very small step to actually moving on to real child sexual abuse.' Recent research by Helsinki-based non-profit Protect Children highlights a link between viewing abusive content and committing contact offences against children, even if a direct causal link has not been proven. According to the study, 52% of respondents said they feared viewing such material could lead them to commit abuse. Meanwhile, 44% said it made them consider seeking contact with a minor, and 37% admitted to having acted on those thoughts. Lenaers told Euronews that AI-generated child abuse material has increased by over 1,000% in the past year alone. The Parliament's position was welcomed by both tech industry players and child protection advocates. In a joint statement, Dot Europe, a Brussels based tech lobby group representing among others OpenAI, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta - and Eclag (European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group) said: 'We are happy to be joining forces for the first time to tackle the danger posed by AI for child sexual abuse at EU level. Hopefully, we can continue to find ways to work together to make online child sexual abuse history.' However, Tuesday's vote is not the final step. Negotiations will now begin between the Parliament, the Council of the EU, which represents national governments, and the European Commission. These 'trilogue' talks will determine the final shape of the law. The Council adopted its own position in December, but stopped short of including the criminalisation of AI-generated child abuse material — prompting strong calls from MEPs, industry and advocacy groups for ministers to align with Parliament. Age of consent also proved divisive during the Council's negotiations. A coalition of seven countries - Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Sweden - issued a joint statement warning that, while children who reach the age of sexual consent may legally agree to sexual acts, they remain especially vulnerable and need strong legal protection. The proposed directive goes beyond AI imagery. It introduces a shared legal framework across the EU to combat online child abuse, with clear definitions of 'grooming' and 'sextortion' as crimes. It also seeks to outlaw the livestreaming of abusive acts, lift time limits for reporting sexual abuse, recognising that many victims come forward only years later, and ban so-called 'paedophile handbooks', which provide instructions on how to manipulate children and evade detection. During the plenary debate, Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner called for ambition and unity: 'We cannot be ambitious enough. There is no more important priority than protecting our children.' The European Commission on Tuesday unveiled a series of measures it hopes will slash red tape for the defence sector and get it to start significantly boosting production. The so-called Simplification Omnibus includes measures to fast-track permitting for defence companies, facilitate cross-border movement through the supply chain, as well as guidance to improve access to finance and to dangerous chemical substances. 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For the latter, the Commission seeks to create a single dedicated licence to allow components necessary for the production of a defence investment project to cross borders as many times as necessary without applying for a new licence each time - a process that can currently delay projects by up to one and a half years. These "quick fixes", the Commission official said, can "save a lot of time". How "quick" they will be will however depend on European lawmakers and member states who will have to negotiate and approve the amendments, as well as the new legislation foreseen in the package. Other elements seek to clarify which environmental and health and safety derogations can be applied to the defence sector and which parts of the sector investors may safely pour money into while respecting the bloc's environmental, social and governance (ESG) rules. Chemicals are a critical part of weapons production, especially ammunition, but the use of many chemicals is restricted in the EU under its REACH legislation to protect human health and the environment from the risks they carry. A proposal to further restrict the use of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) on specific sectors is currently also being examined by the EU. As such, member states have different rules on their use depending on the type of substance, the manufacturing purpose and how much is required with licences often granted on a case-by-case basis. The Commission's upcoming guidelines will therefore aim to highlight that REACH includes a derogation that would allow member states to approve, at the national level, the use of certain chemicals citing the need to boost defence readiness production or activities. This was a core ask from the industry. "If we have to replace these substances immediately, we won't have a way of manufacturing things," Micael Johansson, the CEO of Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab and president of the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) told Euronews last week. "We have to make decisions on what's most important now for manufacturing so maybe we need some sort of exemptions from that in this crisis situation where we have to build things," he added. Another set of guidelines will seek to reassure financial institutions that they will not be penalised for pouring money into the sector by clarifying that "the Union's sustainable finance framework does not impose any limitations on the financing of the defence sector," Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commissioner for Trade, told reporters. The guidance will indicate that defence investments "can contribute to the stability and security and peace in Europe", the official speaking on condition of anonymity said, and that only prohibited weapons are strictly off-limits. The Commission expects 'the cost-saving of the simplification of procedures to be major', the official also said, although an estimate is not expected to be released until later in the summer.
