in-cyprus 11 April 2025
Parliament yesterday unanimously passed legislation that criminalises the production, possession or distribution of child sexual abuse material created using artificial intelligence and other modern technological tools.
The bill, tabled by AKEL MP Christos Christofides, makes Cyprus the first EU member state to legally regulate this form of abuse, with offenders facing up to 15 years imprisonment.
The legislation updates terminology, replacing terms like “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” and criminalises the creation, possession and distribution of child sexual abuse manuals that may include instructions for producing such content using AI.
Police Chief Themistos Arnaoutis, who attended the parliamentary session, emphasised the importance of the new law in addressing emerging threats.
“The police, monitoring developments as reflected by international organisations such as Europol, recognises the complexity and increasing trend of modern threats and challenges,” said Arnaoutis, adding that operational action must be supported by a flexible, modern and updated legal framework.
Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis expressed full satisfaction with the initiative, noting its pioneering character. “Cyprus is the first EU member state to adopt such content and criminalise it,” said Hartsiotis, who congratulated AKEL and all MPs for the initiative that the government supported.
According to statistics from the University of Edinburgh, presented at the parliament, more than 300 million children worldwide fall victim to online sexual exploitation and abuse annually. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports an 87% increase in child sexual abuse material reports since 2019, with 32 million reports analysed in 2023.
The new law comes as various countries worldwide are addressing similar issues. The UK government announced in February 2025 that it had introduced the Crime and Policing Bill to Parliament, while regulations have already been implemented in South Korea, Canada, and 20 US states.
