24 February 2023
International Justice Mission (IJM) Australia has applauded the move by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner to serve legal notices on tech giants Twitter, TikTok and Google requiring them to answer tough questions about how they are tackling online child sexual abuse.
IJM Australia CEO Steve Baird said the move was strongly in line with IJM’s open letter to the Prime Minister – signed by more than 1,200 Australians – which has called for the government to toughen up regulation of the tech industry to crack down on child sex abuse on their platforms.
Among the prominent signatories are Tim Costello (Micah), Kanishka Raffel (Sydney Anglican Archbishop) and Ross Piper (Australian Ethical).
Steve Baird said:
“We are so encouraged to see the eSafety Commissioner take this action to hold giant tech companies to account over what they are doing to counter online child sexual abuse.
Australians are living in an increasingly digital world that offers many benefits to society, but regulation and law enforcement have not kept up with the rapid growth in extremely harmful online activity.
We applaud the eSafety Commissioner and offer our continued support towards eliminating online child sex abuse materials.”
If the companies do not respond to notices within 35 days, they could face financial penalties of almost $700,000 a day.
More than 85 million images and videos of child sexual abuse (CSAM) were identified in 2022 – including Australians paying to watch young children being sexually abused via webcam.
MEDIA: Billy Briggs 0474 697 235