The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 80 other digital and human rights groups in a joint statement on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, urging European Union countries to reject the bloc’s draft Child Sexual Abuse Regulation as it could violate hundreds of millions of people’s privacy rights.
The proposal could force companies to scan everyone’s private digital communications, on behalf of governments, all the time. Tech companies would be able to break end-to-end encryption, jeopardizing journalists’ ability to protect their sources and violating the right to confidential communications.
Read the full statement to the EU‘s 27 member states below.
Read more about press freedom in the European Union in CPJ’s special report “Fragile Progress.”