The bosses of Vodafone, Orange, Telenor and BT wrote to the EU’s three presidents on 6 August. The letter, first reported by Politico, went to Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola and Antonio Costa. “Children need protection now, not in several years’ time,” the four wrote.
Margherita Della Valle, Christel Heydemann, Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer and Allison Kirkby want two things. First, EU-wide administrative orders that let internet providers block confirmed illegal content while the original host still carries it. Second, a new EU watchdog with the legal authority to keep a database of CSAM indicators for enforcement.
Why now
The timing is not an accident. Europe hosts most of this material. The Internet Watch Foundation found that 63% of CSAM webpages last year sat on servers in the EU, led by Bulgaria and the Netherlands. The CEOs call that a reason for Europe to “show global leadership.”
They also say the current rules tie their hands. “We already act where the law allows but the position is varied and uncertain in practice,” they wrote. Blocking a site confirmed as illegal by a hotline is simple in one country and buried in red tape in the next. Those barriers, they argue, “must be removed, urgently.”
