The proposed regulation is aimed at combating child sexual abuse material (CSAM), but critics say tracking users would be too broad.

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The Finnish Parliament’s Constitutional Law Committee has announced that it does not support a Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Model (CSAM) proposed by Hungary.

Hungary currently holds the EU presidency, and the country’s proposal aims to oblige online service providers to detect, report and remove CSAM from platforms under certain conditions.

The suggestion was widely criticized by tech messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal, data protection experts and other groups — as well as most MEPs, according to the tech news outlet. TechCrunch.

FiCom, an ICT industry lobby group, said Hungary’s proposal requires users to “give their consent to verify all content they add”.

“Under the proposal, verification would occur before end-to-end encryption is applied. Users who refuse to give their consent would not be able to send videos, images or links through the service,” FiCom said. explicitly in a press release late last month.

Finland’s Constitutional Law Commission said the Nordic country should not approve Hungary’s proposal because of concerns that the prosecution would be too broad. It said that interference with secret or confidential messages should be as targeted and limited as possible.

Other commissions also critical

The constitutional committee’s position echoed that of the Administration Committee, which issued a statement on the proposal on Tuesday. That body only partially backed Hungary’s plan – which was revised following a compromise – saying the regulation’s rules on identification were a stumbling block.

Last month, Parliament’s Transport and Communications Committee unanimously rejected Hungary’s revised proposal.

According to the chairman of this committee, Jouni Ovaska (Cen), if implemented, the proposal would amount to extensive surveillance of mass communications and weaken the security of online services.

Ovaska added that such a regulation would also provide limited benefits for criminal investigations. He noted that the experts heard by the Committee for Transport and Communications were very critical of the draft regulation.

The committees presented their opinions to Parliament’s Grand Committee, which oversees EU affairs. It is expected to announce a decision on Finland’s position on the matter later this month.