Most Europeans are worried about children’s safety online and are willing to give up some of their online privacy to combat potential abuse, according to a new report.
The findings from ECPAT, a global network dedicated to fighting sexual abuse of children, come as a message to EU policymakers ahead of a planned new regulation for detecting child pornography online. The report shows that nearly three in four European adults think children can’t go online without being contacted by sex offenders.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents also said they would support a European law to make online platforms such as Facebook detect and report images of abuse and grooming — the way a sexual offender builds a relationship with a child — with technology scanning their photos and messages, even though this means giving up certain personal privacy.
The survey conducted by YouGov was taken by nearly 9,500 people in France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Hungary. Among the respondents, 41 percent were aged 55 and over, 34 percent were between the ages of 35 and 54, and 25 percent were between the ages of 18 and 34.
The findings come just a few months before the European Commission is due to release its own legislation that will likely impose new obligations for tech companies to tackle illegal content, whether posted to online platforms or messaging services.
A temporary law passed in July to let companies voluntarily scan and report child abuse drew much controversy over its implications for privacy.
EU lawmakers and privacy activists have been critical of rules and technologies that could weaken encryption and extend scanning of communications. The fear is not limited to the EU. In September, Apple paused plans for a tool to scan iPhones for evidence of child sexual abuse after uproar from privacy activists.
Aware of the uphill battle they will face next year with the EU’s new law, child safety activists are already preparing.
“We’re trying to really achieve a dialogue and to share very informed decisions: None of us professionals working in online protection wish to throw privacy out of the window,” said Dorothea Czarnecki, the deputy executive director of ECPAT International.
“We feel it important to represent the public opinion, to also find out what they want and expect from European institutions in protecting the future generations online,” Czarnecki added.
A recent report from the Internet Watch Foundation, a U.K.-based nonprofit with EU funding that works to remove illegal content, said their analysts have seen a “mammoth” 1,420 percent increase in child sexual abuse material online in the last decade. In 2020, the organization found and reported 153,350 instances of abuse, up from around 13,000 in 2011.
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