📢 May’s edition of our EU Tech Policy Brief is out now!

In this issue:

👁️ Discussions on #CSAM, age-verification & #OPM

💬 The #DSA against #TFGBV

⚖️ Exchanges on the #AI Omnibus

… and much more!

👇 Read more & sign-up:
https://cdt.org/insights/eu-tech-policy-brief-may-2026/

EU Tech Policy Brief: May 2026

Welcome back to the Centre for Democracy & Technology Europe’s Tech Policy Brief! This edition covers the most pressing technology and internet policy issues under debate in Europe and gives CDT’s perspective on the impact to digital rights.

Center for Democracy and Technology
📢 May’s edition of our EU Tech Policy Brief is out now! In this issue: 👁️ Discussions on #CSAM, age-verification & #OPM 💬 The #DSA against #TFGBV ⚖️ Exchanges on the #AI Omnibus … and much more! 👇 Read more & sign-up:

EU Tech Policy Brief: May 2026
EU Tech Policy Brief: May 2026

Welcome back to the Centre for Democracy & Technology Europe’s Tech Policy Brief! This edition covers the most pressing technology and internet policy issues under debate in Europe and gives CDT’s perspective on the impact to digital rights.

Center for Democracy and Technology

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/18/minnesota-justin-eichorn-arrested-soliciting-minor #newsArchives 2025

A Republican state lawmaker in Minnesota who recently introduced a bill to create a mental illness category for liberals obsessed over Donald Trump was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution. Minnesota senator Justin Eichorn was arrested and booked on Tuesday. He believed he was talking to a 17-year-old female, but was communicating instead with detectives from the Bloomington, Minnesota, police department, police allege. Eichorn, a 40-year-old whose biography on the Minnesota Senate website says he is married with four kids, faces felony charges for soliciting a minor to practice prostitution.

#MAGA #Fascism #usPol #childAbuse #csam #justinEichorn #trump #epstein #ProudBoys #january6 #jan6 #j6 #trumpderangementsyndrome #tdr

Republican who introduced Trump derangement syndrome bill arrested for soliciting a minor

Minnesota state senator Justin Eichorn allegedly traveled to meet a 17-year-old he thought he’d met online, but was instead a cop posing as minor

The Guardian

De oud-burgmeester weet best dat bezit van kinderporno-materiaal verboden is. En zijn die USB-sticks dan ook toegestuurd?

"Op zijn computer en usb-sticks werd kinderporno aangetroffen, die tussen 2023 en 2025 zou zijn gedownload. J. ontkende dat hij kinderporno heeft verzameld. Volgens hem zijn de gevonden bestanden naar hem toegestuurd. "

“Er ligt een stevige verdenking. Als wij naar het dossier kijken, dan zien wij ook wel zorgen, b.v. over de chatgesprekken"
#CSAM

https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/2200171/oud-burgemeester-herman-j-ontkent-verzamelen-kinderporno-en-ontucht-ik-ben-geen-pedofiel

Oud-burgemeester Herman J. ontkent verzamelen kinderporno en ontucht: ‘Ik ben geen pedofiel’

De oud-burgemeester van Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht Herman J. ontkent kinderporno te hebben verzameld en ontucht te hebben gepleegd. Hij zei dat dinsdag tijdens een korte zitting op de rechtbank in Rotterdam.

Rijnmond
Reich-Wing Watch on Instagram: "An Urbandale, Iowa Trump supporter is facing multiple charges involving the sexual exploitation of minors. David Woiwood was arrested on May 14 after police discovered 11 images of child sexual abuse material on his phone, per court documents. He was scheduled to appear in court May 22. This arrest came weeks after a separate April arrest on one count of enticing a minor. His arraignment on that charge is set for June 11. Woiwood’s Facebook page features an image of him with a “MAKING HOLINESS GREAT AGAIN” hat combining his support for Trump with his support for Christian mythology. He also made a post defending right-wing killer Kyle Rittenhouse and a post claiming the left is try to confiscate American’s guns. Given Woiwood is the usual suspect — a straight white Christian conservative — this case is unlikely to make national headlines or be amplified by the highly organized right-wing echo chamber. Make him infamous. 🔁"

3,911 likes, 471 comments - reichwingwatch on May 23, 2026: "An Urbandale, Iowa Trump supporter is facing multiple charges involving the sexual exploitation of minors. David Woiwood was arrested on May 14 after police discovered 11 images of child sexual abuse material on his phone, per court documents. He was scheduled to appear in court May 22. This arrest came weeks after a separate April arrest on one count of enticing a minor. His arraignment on that charge is set for June 11. Woiwood’s Facebook page features an image of him with a “MAKING HOLINESS GREAT AGAIN” hat combining his support for Trump with his support for Christian mythology. He also made a post defending right-wing killer Kyle Rittenhouse and a post claiming the left is try to confiscate American’s guns. Given Woiwood is the usual suspect — a straight white Christian conservative — this case is unlikely to make national headlines or be amplified by the highly organized right-wing echo chamber. Make him infamous. 🔁".

Instagram

The ecosystem behind Telegram’s abuse networks.

An AI Forensics investigation revealed a network of nearly 25 000 users across Italy and Spain spreading non-consensual sexual images of women, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM), on Telegram.

“There is a sort of shared pedagogy of sexual violence – one that is facilitated by the platform and knows no geographic borders”.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20260504-the-ecosystem-behind-telegrams-abuse-networks?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

#Telegram #CSAM #SocialMedia #Tech #Italy #Spain #Doxxing #Deepfakes

The ecosystem behind Telegram’s abuse networks.

An AI Forensics investigation revealed a network of nearly 25 000 users across Italy and Spain spreading non-consensual sexual images of women, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM), on Telegram. …

The European Correspondent
Reich-Wing Watch on Instagram: "🚨A 70-year-old Bible-thumping Virginia Trump supporter is behind bars after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led investigators to alleged child s*xual abuse material tied to his internet activity. Ricky L. Good of Luray, VA was arrested on May 19, 2026 by the Luray Police Department following an investigation that began on May 5, when Corporal J. Jenkins received the NCMEC tip. An ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) investigator identified material consistent with child s*xual abuse materials, resulting in arrest warrants. Good was taken into custody without incident and is being held without bond. The investigation is ongoing. Good’s Facebook activity shows he expressed strong support for Donald Trump, is anti-immigrant, supports war with Iran, and believes medical treatments and medications are unnecessary because ‘God’ will heal you. Given his identity as a straight white conservative, this case will not be amplified by the highly coordinated right-wing propaganda machine that has massive influence across social media and is boosted in the algorithm by the Epstein class — particularly on Elon Musk’s ‘X.’ In the rare case that these types of crimes are committed by an LGBTQ person or undocumented immigrant, they go viral in the right-wing echo chamber. It’s part of narrative that is to distract from skyrocketing grocery prices, medical costs, energy prices, the rampant corruption of the Trump crime family, and the fact Trump himself has been accused s*xually abusing children in the Epstein files. Their game is divide and conquer, one of the oldest tricks in the oligarch’s playbook. Make sure this case gets the attention it deserves. 🔁 https://rocktownnow.com/news/218812-luray-man-arrested-on-child-pornography-charges/"

608 likes, 52 comments - reichwingwatch on May 21, 2026: "🚨A 70-year-old Bible-thumping Virginia Trump supporter is behind bars after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led investigators to alleged child s*xual abuse material tied to his internet activity. Ricky L. Good of Luray, VA was arrested on May 19, 2026 by the Luray Police Department following an investigation that began on May 5, when Corporal J. Jenkins received the NCMEC tip. An ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) investigator identified material consistent with child s*xual abuse materials, resulting in arrest warrants. Good was taken into custody without incident and is being held without bond. The investigation is ongoing. Good’s Facebook activity shows he expressed strong support for Donald Trump, is anti-immigrant, supports war with Iran, and believes medical treatments and medications are unnecessary because ‘God’ will heal you. Given his identity as a straight white conservative, this case will not be amplified by the highly coordinated right-wing propaganda machine that has massive influence across social media and is boosted in the algorithm by the Epstein class — particularly on Elon Musk’s ‘X.’ In the rare case that these types of crimes are committed by an LGBTQ person or undocumented immigrant, they go viral in the right-wing echo chamber. It’s part of narrative that is to distract from skyrocketing grocery prices, medical costs, energy prices, the rampant corruption of the Trump crime family, and the fact Trump himself has been accused s*xually abusing children in the Epstein files. Their game is divide and conquer, one of the oldest tricks in the oligarch’s playbook. Make sure this case gets the attention it deserves. 🔁 https://rocktownnow.com/news/218812-luray-man-arrested-on-child-pornography-charges/".

Instagram
How Deepfakes Tore a High School Apart

After five teen girls were targeted by AI-generated child sexual abuse material, Radnor Township High School in Pennsylvania has become a case study in how schools and police around the country grapple with how to response to deepfake crimes involving children.

404 Media
Elon Musk’s X fined $650,000 after failing to comply with Australian child safety notice

Australian eSafety legal notice issued to US-based company for failing to provide information on how it was tackling online child abuse material

The Guardian

"Much has already been said here at Techdirt about the problems with TIDA’s takedown requirements, so I need not repeat those critiques at length. In brief: 48 hours is incredibly fast, the law doesn’t require a process for the user whose content was removed to appeal a takedown or have it restored, it imposes no penalties for bad-faith takedown requests, and it does a poor job of respecting First Amendment protections for speech. It immunizes platforms from liability for removing content that isn’t actually illegal NCII, while simultaneously giving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the power to police compliance, as the agency’s chairman reminded a dozen or so major companies in a letter last week.

This is a recipe for rampant abuse. It incentivizes a “remove first, ask questions never” approach. And it’s particularly dangerous in our current political moment. Not only did President Trump vow to use TIDA against unflattering online speech about him, the Trump FTC is led by two hard-right Republican commissioners who’ve been using their position to pursue an anti-LGBTQ, anti-porn agenda. TIDA’s extremely abusable takedown mandate thus poses a huge risk to online free speech in general, and to content posted by queer and trans people and sex workers in particular.

With all that said, the takedown requirements have the potential to do a lot of good. I’ve spent the past several years studying AI-generated CSAM, particularly the use of “nudify” apps – and, more recently, Grok –- to create nonconsensual deepfake pornography.
(...)
In short, the notice-and-takedown process mandated by TIDA might turn out to be really helpful to NCII victims, or it might be wildly abused, or both. The platforms receiving and processing those notices are the only ones who will know. That’s why they should tell us in their transparency reports."

https://www.techdirt.com/2026/05/19/hey-platforms-add-take-it-down-to-your-transparency-reports/

#USA #SocialMedia #TIDA #CSAM #Censorship #Transparency

Hey Platforms: Add TAKE IT DOWN To Your Transparency Reports

Today marks the deadline for online platforms to implement a process for notice-and-takedown of nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) under the TAKE IT DOWN Act (TIDA), which became law one year ag…

Techdirt