EU agrees to add online grooming and AI-generated child abuse imagery to criminal law

Officials involved in the talks said the new framework would also cover AI-generated child sexual abuse material, a category that did not exist when the EU's previous child protection directive was drafted. Producers, distributors and viewers of such material, including manipulated or entirely synthetic images, would face criminal prosecution under national laws transposing the directive.

What the new offences cover

The text explicitly addresses livestreamed abuse, a method in which offences against children are broadcast in real time over the internet. The directive will require EU member states to treat the recording, distribution and knowing possession of such streams as punishable conduct, closing a gap that prosecutors had flagged in cross-border cases.

Negotiators said the compromise preserves room for national authorities to set the level of penalties, but sets common minimum definitions so that the offences are recognised across all 27 member states. The European Parliament is expected to formally endorse the deal in a plenary vote later this year, after which member states will have a defined period to transpose the rules into national law.

Why AI-generated material was central to the debate

Civil society groups that work on child protection have lobbied for the changes since 2022, arguing that advances in artificial intelligence had outpaced existing criminal statutes. Several EU governments initially resisted adding grooming as a stand-alone offence, citing concerns about overlapping national laws, but dropped their objections as the file entered trilogue negotiations.

According to a report broadcast by Deutschlandfunk on 23 June 2026, the agreement also clarifies that online services hosting user-generated content must put in place mechanisms to detect and report known child sexual abuse material. The obligation does not extend to general monitoring of communications, in line with the EU's e-privacy rules, but providers will be expected to act on credible reports from authorities and hotlines.

Obligations for online platforms

The directive forms part of a broader EU push to update digital-era safeguards for minors, alongside the recently strengthened Digital Services Act and ongoing work on age-assurance tools. Officials in Brussels have framed the package as a response to what the European Parliament has described as a rapid expansion in commercial child sexual exploitation online.

Member states will be required to designate national contact points for cross-border investigations and to cooperate with Europol's specialist unit on child exploitation. The deal also calls on the European Commission to review the new offences within five years to assess whether technological developments, including new forms of synthetic media, require further legal updates.

Next steps for adoption

The final text must still be formally approved by the Council of the EU before it can enter into force. Once adopted, governments will have two years to bring their national laws into line with the directive.