EU commissioner sidesteps MEPs’ questions about CSAM microtargeting

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, has confirmed the Commission is investigating whether or not it broke recently updated digital governance rules when her department ran a microtargeted political ad campaign aiming to drive support for a controversial child sexual abuse material (CSAM)-scanning proposal she’s spearheading.

Using public ad transparency tools the DSA requires VLOPs to provide, Mekić found the Commission had run a paid advertising campaign on X, targeting users in the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Slovenia, Portugal and the Czech Republic — countries that were not supportive of Johansson’s CSAM-scanning proposal according to leaked minutes from a September 14 meeting of the European Council, a co-legislative body that’s involved (along with MEPs) in determining the final shape of the CSAM law.

While many of the questions directed at her over the 1.5-hour long hearing focused on the controversy that’s sprung up around the ad campaign, parliamentarians also pressed the commissioner on a number of other issues — including concerns about the extent of commercial lobbying around the CSAM-scanning proposal.

The Commission risks straying close to making attacks on journalists by using such tactics, Fotiadis warned — adding: “You cannot just dismiss everything by calling fake news” — before also noting that Johansson’s office had declined multiple interview requests ahead of publication of the article.

Responding to a question from the committee about the reporting he said documents obtained by the journalists included email threads between Commission officials in Johansson’s department, DG-Home, and a “key stakeholder” advocating for the use of technology for CSAM-scanning — which indicated what he described as “privileged access” that “speaks directly to cooperation” and goes “way beyond” mere consultation or exchange of views on the proposal.

Compared to the situation today it will be much more limited,” she claimed, referencing the temporary ePrivacy derogation that currently gives messaging firms a legal basis to scan non-encrypted content for CSAM (but is intended to be replaced by the proposed regulation).

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