On June 17, MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favor of the adoption of the relevant Directive. The document also provides for liability for offenses related to grooming (the practice when an adult “befriends” a child for the purpose of committing sexual abuse), sextortion and live broadcasting, and addresses legal definitions and age of consent issues in EU countries.
As Euronews notes, the European Parliament’s decision was passed with 599 votes in favor, with only two against and 62 abstentions, indicating an unusually broad consensus across the political spectrum on such a sensitive issue.
Dutch MP Jeroen Leenaers told the publication that the amount of child pornography created by artificial intelligence has increased by more than 1,000% in the past year.
The parliament’s stance was welcomed by the tech industry and child advocates. In a joint statement, DotEurope, a Brussels-based technology lobby group representing OpenAI, TikTok, Snapchat and Meta, among others, and Eclag (European Child Sexual Abuse Legacy Advocacy Group) said, “We are pleased to join forces for the first time to tackle the dangers of using artificial intelligence to sexually abuse children at EU level. We hope that we can continue to find ways to work together to make online child sexual abuse a thing of the past”.
