Children Can’t Wait: #Pass the Law
Every day of delay means another child is harmed.
For over three years, EU leaders have debated the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) — a law designed to protect children from online sexual abuse. In that time, reports of grooming, sexual extortion, and AI-generated child abuse material have risen exponentially across Europe.
And while leaders debate, children suffer — left unprotected from sexual abuse.
The Child Sexual Abuse Crisis in Numbers
20.5 million reports and 63 million files of abuse were submitted to the NCMEC CyberTipline last year
Online grooming has increased by 300% since negotiations began.
Every day delayed = +170,000 child sexual abuse images reported.
Every half second, an image of a child being sexually abused is reported online.
62% of abuse content flagged by the Internet Watch Foundation in 2024 was traced to EU servers
At least 1 in 5 children in Europe is a victim of sexual abuse.
WHY EUROPE MUST ACT
The Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) was proposed in 2022 to hold tech platforms accountable for detecting, reporting, and removing child sexual abuse content while protecting users' privacy. EU leaders have been delaying child protection for three years.
Without clear laws, online platforms will continue to leave millions of children unprotected, with millions of images and videos of child sexual abuse to circulate online. With yet another failure of Member States to agree on a solution, the window for change is closing.
The EU is meant to lead the world in protecting children online. Inaction makes Europe a safe haven for perpetrators. As technology advances, detection weakens — and children remain unprotected.