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4th February 2025
10:46am GMT
The proposed legislation, first introduced in 2022, would mean all digital communications - photos, videos, texts, and even links - will be scanned for child abuse material.
This move comes as the UK is set to become the first country to criminalise AI-generated child abuse content, pushing the conversation around online safety and privacy into the spotlight.
But not everyone’s on board.
While the goal is to protect children, privacy advocates and tech experts are raising red flags about what this could mean for everyday users.
Ciara O’Brien, Business and Technology Correspondent for The Irish Times, points out that end-to-end encryption - designed to keep messages secure - isn’t just a privacy feature; it’s a safeguard.
“Some argue this puts kids at risk, but it actually protects them because it secures their communications,” O’Brien explained to Newstalk.
“If you create a backdoor into that system, you weaken the whole structure, making it vulnerable to hackers and bad actors.”
That’s not the only concern, as the system would rely heavily on AI to detect harmful content, which many are warning isn’t exactly foolproof.
O’Brien warns that false positives could overwhelm authorities, potentially causing real cases to slip through the cracks.
“There’s a risk that innocent messages could be wrongly flagged, putting people under suspicion for no reason,” she said.
“You’re relying on technology that’s imperfect, which means mistakes are inevitable.”
To put things in perspective, Ireland alone recorded over 29,000 incidents of child sexual abuse in 2023.
