The European Parliament on Thursday approved a temporary exemption to EU privacy rules that allows tech platforms, once again, to voluntarily scan messages for child sexual abuse material while backing amendments to protect end-to-end encryption.
The measure is intended to close a legal gap that emerged on 3 April, when an earlier exemption to the ePrivacy rules expired.
That previous carve-out had allowed companies to carry out such detection work.
The gap arose after EU Member States and the European Parliament failed to agree on an extension of the earlier exemption.
The proposal returned to Parliament for a second reading through a procedural route involving Member States, under pressure from the European People’s Party, the largest group in the assembly.
Parliament had initially voted the extension down.
To reject the text again at this stage, an absolute majority of 360 out of 719 MEPs was required. That threshold was not met.
MEPs did, however, approve amendments excluding communications to which end-to-end encryption is applied, has been applied or will be applied, from the scope of the law.
The far-left group then made a final attempt to reject the entire amended text but failed to secure enough support.
Parliament will now inform the Council of its approval of the amended text. Member States have three months to decide whether to accept it.
If they do not, a conciliation procedure will begin.
Meanwhile, Member States and Parliament are continuing negotiations on a permanent framework for detecting child sexual abuse material.
The European Commission first tabled that proposal in 2022, but the talks have proved difficult.
