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This article has been translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The news agency is not responsible for the content of the translated article. The original was published by CTK.

EU countries agreed on a proposal against child pornography, Czech Republic voted against

by AI | 26.Nov 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Czech Republic is concerned about the breach of encrypted communication.

A man is sitting at the computer and typing on the keyboard. Photo: Nicolas Armer/dpa

Brussels – Representatives of EU member states today agreed on a proposal aimed at combating the spread of materials on the internet depicting child sexual abuse. The EU Council reported on this. According to CTK sources, the Czech Republic voted against it, opposing the breach of encrypted communication. The regulation known by the acronym CSAM and nicknamed chat control had many critics, and there was not enough support for its approval for a long time.

Ultimately, after long weeks of negotiations, Germany, which had been opposed for a long time, supported the proposal. Besides the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and the Netherlands also voted against it, while Italy abstained. With the approved position, the EU Council will now enter negotiations with the European Parliament.

According to Pirate MEP Markéta Gregorová from the Greens group, today is “a great disappointment for everyone who cares about privacy.” “The Danish presidency has pushed through a compromise version of the proposal after long negotiations, which, while appearing to be less invasive, actually paves the way for what we have long warned against: the blanket scanning of our private conversations,” Gregorová stated. The “voluntary” option for online service providers to scan communications represents, in her view, a significant invasion of the privacy of all users.

The outgoing Czech Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan reiterated at a meeting in Luxembourg last October that the Czech Republic rejects the proposal. According to him, it is necessary to combat the spread of child pornography, but not by breaching encrypted communication. (November 26)