The Sweden Democrats believe that the governing parties are dishonest and betray election promises.
– I think the government has been dishonest in the EU election campaign, when they have expressed that they are against chat control, and proposals that infringe on personal integrity, says Adam Marttinen (SD).
It was Swedish EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson (S) who launched the chat control proposal in May 2022. The aim was to prevent and combat sexual abuse of children by expanding the digital monitoring of both social media and encrypted messaging services.
The proposal has received strong criticism for implying significant intrusions into personal integrity, as both authorities and companies can gain access to private conversations. Several EU countries have been skeptical.
About to become a reality
But at the end of May this year, EU presidency Belgium put forward a compromise proposal in which the tracking of text messages and calls was removed. Users should also be able to give consent, but in practice this means that those who say no will no longer be able to share images, videos and links.
The compromise proposal has swayed several previously skeptical countries, and the proposal may be on its way to becoming a reality.
Yesterday, the justice committee voted on how Sweden should respond to the proposal in the EU’s Council of Ministers. The answer was yes, which journalist Emanuel Karlsten was the first to report.
The Sweden Democrats and the Center Party were the only ones who voted against. The Green Party and the Left Party also say they are against the proposal but failed to say so.
“Far-reaching consequences”
In the EU election campaign, the moderates called chat control mass surveillance, but they have now accepted the compromise.
– We have always said that we are prepared to look at new proposals that can attack the major problem of sexual abuse of children in the digital environment if there is a better balance and legal certainty is provided for in a better way. Therefore, we think that the proposal that has now been put on the table goes far enough for us to be able to give the green light to further negotiations, says Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M), to TV4 Nyheterna.
Sweden Democrat Adam Marttinen, member of the justice committee, is critical.
– I think you have betrayed your election promises because you have now agreed to rather far-reaching consequences for personal integrity. It is accepted that encryption is broken in this proposal that Belgium came up with as a compromise proposal.
The proposal on chat control is to be discussed further in the EU and it is not clear how it will look, but Sweden will vote yes in the Council of Ministers.