Statement: An Open Letter on Behalf of Child Sexual Abuse Material Survivors

We are survivors whose child sexual abuse was recorded and, in most cases, shared online. We, along with every child who has been and will be exploited online, will soon be left unprotected.

On December 21, it will be illegal for tech companies that control web platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat to use their current tools for scanning and removing known images of children being sexually abused from their messaging platforms, such as Facebook Messenger and Gmail. Thankfully, the European Commission has identified this serious problem and proposed a temporary measure to allow companies to continue intercepting these harmful images until a better solution can be found.

However, the lack of agreement in the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee may delay this simple solution until next year. If the Committee does not allow platforms to continue using existing technology to detect child sexual abuse and exploitation there will be grave consequences for children, not only in Europe but around the world, who are currently being abused.

Every time these images are seen or shared it is a continued violation of our dignity and personal safety — an unending cycle of trauma being derived entirely from offenders’ pleasure in our suffering.

You can help us.

We are asking each and every Member of the European Parliament, including the members of the LIBE Committee, to heed our call and take action now.

We are asking you to hold your Member of Parliament accountable and demand they put the safety of children first.

Learn more about how you can help at protectchildren.ca/EU, and sign the petition at change.org/childsafetyfirst.

This statement is supported by the following organizations: