The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has announced a new partnership with Public Interest Registry (PIR) and the NetBeacon Institute aimed at strengthening efforts to identify and disrupt online child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The initiative introduces a reporting mechanism that enables suspected child sexual abuse content to be reported through NetBeacon Reporter alongside existing DNS abuse categories, including phishing, malware and spam. Reports are forwarded to IWF analysts, who assess the material under UK law and initiate appropriate action when illegal content is confirmed.
The partnership also expands registrars’ access to IWF domain protection services. Through PIR sponsorship, registrars will be able to access IWF Domain Alerts and the Top-Level Domain Hopping List free of charge.
According to the organisations, the programme already covers approximately 55 million domains and is intended to make it more difficult for criminals to use domain infrastructure to host or distribute child sexual abuse material.
Why does it matter?
Child sexual abuse material remains a significant online safety challenge, requiring coordination across platforms, hosting providers, registries and registrars. Integrating CSAM reporting into existing DNS abuse workflows could help speed up the identification of illegal content and improve coordination between reporting mechanisms and domain operators.
The initiative also reflects growing efforts to use domain-level tools and threat intelligence services to disrupt the infrastructure that supports the distribution of harmful and illegal content online.
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The Aithos Research Foundation has launched Aithos LARA (Legal Assessment for Real-world Agents), a public evaluation framework designed to assess whether AI agents comply with key European legal requirements.
The framework places AI models in simulated workplace and consumer-service scenarios where completing assigned tasks may involve actions that conflict with provisions of the EU AI Act or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
According to Aithos, an initial evaluation involving more than 3,000 tests across 12 frontier AI models found that none consistently met acceptable levels of legal compliance. Compliance rates ranged from 7% to 54%, with the highest-performing model adhering to legal requirements in only slightly more than half of the assessed scenarios.
The research suggests that current frontier AI systems may prioritise task completion over legal obligations when operating with a high degree of autonomy.
Furthermore, the study assessed compliance with six provisions of the EU AI Act and four core GDPR principles, including transparency, lawful processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation.
Researchers reported instances in which models generated outputs that would conflict with some of the AI Act’s prohibited practices, including exploiting vulnerable individuals, conducting emotion recognition in workplace environments and engaging in forms of manipulation prohibited under European law.
To increase transparency, Aithos has made evaluation transcripts, model outputs and judicial assessments publicly available. The organisation argues that independent and public oversight can complement company-led governance efforts by providing greater transparency into how AI systems behave in legally and ethically sensitive contexts.
Why does it matter?
The findings highlight the challenges of deploying AI agents in regulated environments where legal compliance is essential. As organisations increasingly explore AI for customer service, human resources, finance and operational decision-making, ensuring that systems comply with data protection and AI regulations is becoming a key governance requirement.
The research also underscores the growing importance of independent testing and oversight mechanisms as policymakers and regulators seek to evaluate how autonomous AI systems behave in real-world scenarios.
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The Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference is an annual gathering that brings together academics, policymakers, industry representatives, civil society, students, and EU institutions to discuss emerging digital policy challenges. This year’s theme was ‘Competing Visions, Shared Futures’, the 19th in the series, and it hosted approximately 150 panels over the span of 3 days in Brussels.
What is CPDP?
CPDP’s value lies in its multidisciplinary approach. With academics presenting their work or debating topical issues, as well as with industry and policy experts bringing their expertise to the table, the event creates a space for honest conversations among participants.
The conference is sponsored by organisations such as Google, TikTok, Apple, as well as the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and VBU. Google even presented its Banana AI model in a photo booth, allowing participants to modify photos they took in the booth.
Alongside panels, CPDP hosts an array of workshops, short films, artwork, radio programming, promotion booths, dedicated DPO, youth, finance and IT tracks, book launches, and pop-up exhibitions. The event always closes the day in style with an open bar and a party to chat and network at.
CPDP is not a typical conference with just panels, attendees, moderators, and lengthy speeches. The conference inspires creativity and gives the freedom to achieve it. This was proven by the diverse topics showcased in the event’s schedule over the three days.
From a fireside chat with the artist, Simon Denny, behind the conference’s art, who uses AI as a medium in some of his work, to typical discussions about the Digital Omnibus or tracking period apps, all the way to an exiled journalist talking about Russian internet censorship. There was something for everyone.
Image via Magnific
What was presented?
The breadth of topics discussed at CPDP offers insight into the issues currently shaping Europe’s digital policy agenda. There were approximately 150 panels in total, with data protection, AI, the Digital Omnibus and the topics of digital sovereignty receiving the most attention. Data protection received the most attention overall, as 33 panels were dedicated to the topic. This was followed by 26 panels on AI, 12 on the Digital Omnibus, 10 on digital sovereignty, and 7 on child-related protection.
The distribution of panels reflects the growing prominence of AI in digital policy discussions. However, data protection topics, including privacy and the GDPR, are still the frontrunners in terms of topic relevance. Newer and emerging topics reveal what is topical in the digital world.
Growing concerns over US tech reliance have intensified discussions about EU digital sovereignty. Alongside this, another heavily debated and sensitive topic is child protection in the online context and its generative AI implications, which raises questions about how to better protect children online.
Emerging topics at CPDP
Digital sovereignty is a challenging topic as it encompasses a lot and has yet to be defined, meaning that taking action can look different for a wide variety of actors. Several discussions framed digital sovereignty as a pathway towards greater digital independence and reduced reliance on external technology providers. In order to try to achieve digital sovereignty, public procurement should be steered away from non-EU actors and towards EU businesses to develop a European stack.
Yes, private partnerships are important, but public ones set the tone. Several participants argued that public procurement choices will play an important role in determining whether EU can strengthen domestic digital capabilities and reduce strategic dependencies. Digital sovereignty needs to come from all corners of the market and society; that is the challenge.
A very interesting panel on data protection and AI, the GDPR, and privacy occurred. In Academic Session I, Stephanie von Maltzan presented findings about her groundbreaking research on LLM unlearning. The larger the LLM, the more data points it will be trained on and the more complex its ‘web’ will be.
Removing data points is not a common practice, given how data points interact with each other, meaning that complexity overrides certain fundamental rights. For example, when data subjects invoke their right to erasure under Article 17 of the GDPR, they may request that certain data be deleted in an LLM, yet this request is difficult to carry out in practice.
The research highlights one of the emerging challenges at the intersection of AI governance and data protection. She presents a two tier model in which the actively deployed LLM is accompanied by a parallel ‘shadow’ model.
After receiving a valied erasure request, the ‘shadow model’ would undergo the necessary unlearning processes to remove the relevant data. In the second tier, in a scheduled update, the ‘shadow’ model, which had undergone unlearning, would replace the initial LLM, thereby upholding data subject requests.
Apart from these insightful exchanges of knowledge on AI, digital sovereignty and data protection, the conference offered practical workshops on how to brainstorm re-writing the proposed Article 88b of the Omnibus, data protection officer and cybersecurity crisis scenarios, as well as open conversations about how to protect children in online environments.
Remaining questions
The conference also highlighted several unresolved policy questions that continue to shape European digital governance debates.
Regarding the Digital Omnibus, would companies scale up overnight if we removed regulations?
Does digital sovereignty need/have a definition, or should it be left to the meaning of ‘digital independence’?
Open markets vs data protection, where is the balance?
Regarding digital sovereignty, which clouds should be used in the EU?
Should simplification mean using the once-used definition of personal data by the CJEU, or sticking to the definition relied on in law, cases, and practice?
In order to protect EU sovereignty, should parts of the stack be a public utility?
Why does it matter?
CPDP 2026 demonstrated that while privacy and data protection remain central pillars of European digital policy, debates around AI governance, digital sovereignty and online child protection are rapidly gaining prominence.
The discussions highlighted the growing challenge of balancing innovation, competitiveness, fundamental rights and strategic autonomy as Europe defines its digital future.
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Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) has launched a public consultation on proposed advisory guidelines governing the use of personal data in generative AI systems. Published on 2 June, the draft guidelines seek feedback on how Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) applies when personal data is used in the development and deployment of generative AI systems.
The proposed guidelines address the collection and use of personal data for generative AI model development, the allocation of data protection responsibilities across the AI lifecycle, and the handling of individual rights requests relating to personal data. The guidance is organised around development, deployment, and post-deployment stages.
For model development, the draft guidelines clarify how organisations may rely on exemptions for publicly available information when using web-scraped datasets containing personal data. They also set out considerations for data behind digital barriers such as paywalls, registration requirements, authentication mechanisms, and tools that block automated access.
The PDPC proposes that general privacy notices should not be considered sufficient for obtaining consent to use personal data for large-scale AI training or fine-tuning. Organisations would instead be expected to provide AI-specific notices explaining the categories of personal data used, the purpose of the processing, the model’s intended functions, and how individuals can refuse or withdraw consent.
The proposed guidelines also outline responsibilities for model providers, system providers, and system deployers, including retention, protection, purpose limitation, and accountability obligations. The post-deployment guidance addresses access and correction requests while recognising technical challenges associated with large datasets, embeddings, temporary context windows and the removal of specific information from trained models. Interested parties may submit comments to the PDPC by 1 July 2026.
Why does it matter?
The consultation highlights the growing challenge of applying existing data protection laws to generative AI systems that rely on large-scale data collection and model training. Regulators worldwide are increasingly examining how privacy principles such as consent, transparency and purpose limitation should operate in AI development.
Singapore’s proposed guidance could provide an important reference point for organisations developing or deploying generative AI, particularly in areas such as web scraping, AI training datasets and the allocation of responsibilities across the AI value chain.
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The UK Government has announced an amendment to Ofcom’s Illegal Content Codes of Practice under the Online Safety Act, introducing new measures to tackle non-consensual intimate images. The update was outlined in by the Minister for AI and Online Safety, Kanishka Narayan.
The amendment requires relevant online services to use perceptual hash-matching technologies, or equivalent tools, to identify and prevent the re-upload of known non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated intimate image deepfakes.
According to the government, the change strengthens the framework established by Ofcom’s Illegal Content Codes of Practice, which entered into force in 2025. The updated approach aims to ensure that once abusive content has been identified and removed, systems are in place to prevent it from being repeatedly shared.
The amendment has been laid before Parliament for scrutiny and will take effect if neither House objects. The government said the measure is intended to strengthen protections for victims, particularly women and girls, and forms part of the ongoing implementation of the Online Safety Act in the UK.
Why does it matter?
Governments and regulators are increasingly treating AI-generated intimate imagery as a form of image-based abuse alongside authentic non-consensual intimate content. As generative AI tools make it easier to create and distribute realistic deepfakes, policymakers are looking for mechanisms to prevent harmful content from repeatedly reappearing online.
The UK’s proposal reflects a broader trend towards requiring platforms to deploy technical measures that can identify and block known abusive content while strengthening protections for victims of online harms.
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Australia’s AI Safety Institute became operational on 2 June as the government seeks to strengthen public trust in AI development, deployment and governance. The announcement was made during the AFR AI Summit in Canberra, where the government described public trust as essential to building a domestic AI industry.
According to Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy Hon Dr Andrew Charlton, Australia’s national AI plan rests on three pillars:
Capturing the opportunity
Sharing the benefits
Keeping Australians safe.
The AI Safety Institute is intended to support that effort by testing AI systems, assisting regulators and strengthening public confidence in the technology.
In his speech, Charlton also argued that Australia faces a choice between building a world-class AI industry or relying on foreign capability, while warning that low public trust could slow AI adoption and investment.
Charlton cited survey findings showing that only 30% of Australians believe the benefits of AI outweigh the risks, while 78% are concerned about potential negative impacts, and 36% say they trust the technology. It linked public scepticism to concerns that AI benefits may flow offshore while costs linked to jobs, privacy, power bills, and local communities are borne domestically.
Data centres were highlighted as an example of how trust considerations are shaping AI policy. The government said data-centre developers should contribute new renewable energy capacity, cover an appropriate share of transmission and distribution costs, engage with local communities and avoid creating pressure on water resources.
The AI Safety Institute will analyse and test AI models and applications, support regulators responding to emerging AI-related harms, and contribute to national and international discussions on safe AI development and governance. The speech also pointed to wider work on privacy reform, online safety, workplace impacts, competition, consumer issues, and public-sector AI adoption.
Why does it matter?
Australia is positioning trust as a key component of its AI strategy at a time when governments are balancing economic opportunities from AI with concerns about safety, privacy, employment and infrastructure impacts.
By creating a dedicated AI Safety Institute, Australia joins a growing number of countries establishing specialised institutions to evaluate AI risks, support regulators and build public confidence in the deployment of increasingly capable AI systems.
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G7 digital and technology ministers have agreed on priorities covering secure AI, AI openness, digital sector resilience and online safety for minors following a meeting in Paris under France’s presidency. Ministers said digital technologies are central to innovation, productivity and competitiveness, while also creating new challenges for users, businesses and service providers.
The statement reaffirmed support for Data Free Flow with Trust, while highlighting privacy, data protection, intellectual property and security considerations. Ministers also welcomed G7 work on semiconductors, digital standards, quantum technologies, and competition in AI inputs, including computing power, data, energy, and talent.
On AI, ministers said secure, responsible and trustworthy systems are needed to maintain public trust and support adoption. They welcomed the revised Hiroshima AI Process Reporting Framework and said France’s presidency would start discussions with stakeholders, the OECD, and members of the International Network for Advanced AI Measurement, Evaluation and Science to improve comparability between AI risk assessment frameworks.
The G7 also backed a Vision on AI Openness, intended to clarify terminology and support access to open-source and open-weight AI approaches. Ministers said AI openness can help diffuse AI, support research collaboration, and contribute to innovation and economic growth, while clearer language can reduce ambiguity and support trust.
Ministers also supported a G7 SME AI Readiness Tool, developed with the OECD and in cooperation with the G7 Social-Employment working group. The tool is expected to be made available through the G7 AI Training Hub to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises assess their digital and AI readiness, improve AI literacy and lower adoption barriers.
The statement also addresses digital and AI sector resilience, resource efficiency and growing pressure on energy grids and digital infrastructure. On child online safety, ministers supported a Common G7 Set of Principles for a safe and secure digital space for minors, covering digital literacy, AI education, risk mitigation by digital service providers, support for parents and guardians, and protection against online harms.
Why does it matter?
The G7 statement reflects growing international coordination around AI governance, digital resilience and online child safety. By addressing AI risk assessment, openness, SME adoption and digital infrastructure pressures in one framework, ministers are linking technological innovation with trust, security and economic competitiveness.
The agreement also signals that online safety for minors is becoming a core part of digital policy cooperation among major economies, particularly as AI systems and digital platforms play a larger role in children’s online experiences.
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China has updated its trade secret protection rules to formally include data, algorithms, computer programs, code, and other technical information, reflecting the growing importance of digital assets in commercial competition.
The Provisions on the Protection of Trade Secrets, issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation, took effect on 1 June 2026 and replaced rules dating back to 1995. The framework defines trade secrets as technical, business, and other commercial information that is not publicly known, has commercial value, and is protected through corresponding confidentiality measures.
The new rules encourage companies to strengthen internal compliance and trade secret management systems. They identify reasonable confidentiality measures, including confidentiality agreements, employee training, access restrictions, data classification, encryption, isolation, and limits on copying, storing, or accessing sensitive information.
The regulations also address digital working environments. For remote work and cross-border collaboration, companies are encouraged to implement measures such as permission tiering, data masking, and operational logging to protect confidential information.
The rules prohibit acquiring trade secrets through theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion, or other improper means. They also cover unauthorised access to digital office systems, servers, email accounts, cloud storage, and application accounts, as well as the use of malware or the exploitation of vulnerabilities to obtain trade secrets.
The framework applies to trade secret infringements committed outside China where they disrupt domestic market competition or harm the lawful rights and interests of Chinese business operators.
Alongside the new rules, SAMR has launched the fourth Enterprise Trade Secret Protection Capacity Enhancement Service Month in June 2026. The campaign will focus on compliance guidance, stronger enforcement, regional cooperation, and support for key industries, including biomedicine, integrated circuits, and AI.
Why does it matter?
The updated rules show how trade secret protection is being adapted to digital and data-driven industries. By explicitly covering data, algorithms, software and code, China is treating digital knowledge assets as core components of commercial competitiveness. The framework also raises compliance expectations for companies operating in China, especially those working across remote teams, cloud environments, cross-border collaboration, AI, semiconductors, and other high-value technology sectors.
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The European Centre for Certification and Privacy announced that the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has approved the extension of the Europrivacy certification scheme beyond Europe. Organisations worldwide that are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will now be able to seek Europrivacy certification.
The Centre also announced approval of a specific version of the certification criteria for use as a safeguard mechanism for international data transfers. The measure is intended to support organisations outside the EEA in demonstrating compliance when handling transferred personal data.
According to the organisation, the decisions are intended to strengthen legal certainty, support trusted cross-border data flows and provide an additional compliance mechanism based on independent assessments and regular audits.
The decisions represent a significant step towards broader adoption of data protection certification mechanisms at the international level. The announcement follows recent EDPB approvals and reflects the growing role of certification mechanisms in international data governance and cross-border data transfers across the EU.
Why does it matter?
Certification mechanisms are becoming an increasingly important part of international data governance, particularly as organisations seek to demonstrate compliance with GDPR requirements across jurisdictions.
The expansion of Europrivacy beyond Europe and its use in international data transfers could provide organisations with an additional tool for demonstrating accountability, supporting cross-border data flows and navigating evolving data protection obligations.
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CaseScan, a specialist technology company supporting child protection investigations and digital safety work, has joined the IWF as a member. The company develops tools that help specialist teams identify, classify, and prioritise illegal material more efficiently, reducing manual workloads and supporting faster responses when criminal content is found.
Through its membership, CaseScan will be able to draw on IWF intelligence and services to strengthen how it helps approved clients detect child sexual abuse material. The IWF said the collaboration will support faster identification of criminal content.
The partnership comes amid a rapidly evolving online threat landscape. According to the IWF’s 2025 Annual Data & Insights Report, new technologies, systemic vulnerabilities, and the continued distribution of child sexual abuse material are increasing the challenges faced by investigators and online safety organisations.
CaseScan said the collaboration will strengthen its ability to support professionals working on the front line of child protection investigations. The IWF said industry partnerships are essential to disrupting the criminal distribution of abusive images and videos and preventing the repeated victimisation of children online.
Why does it matter?
The partnership shows how child safety organisations and specialist technology providers are working to improve the speed and accuracy of CSAM detection. As the volume and complexity of illegal material online grow, trusted intelligence and specialist detection tools can help investigators and approved organisations prioritise cases, reduce manual review burdens, and respond more quickly to harmful content.
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