Internet Regulator Says Apple and YouTube Not Bothering to Track Volume of Child Sexual Abuse Reports
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said a new report from her office shows that 'minimal progress has been made by some of the most well-resourced companies in the world to tackle this urgent issue, despite previous eSafety reports in 2022 and 2023 showing not enough was being done.'
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Epoch Times
06-08-2025
- Epoch Times
Internet Regulator Says Apple and YouTube Not Bothering to Track Volume of Child Sexual Abuse Reports
Australia's internet watchdog claims the social media giants are 'turning a blind eye' to online child sexual exploitation or abuse (CSEA) material on their platforms. eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said a new report from her office shows that 'minimal progress has been made by some of the most well-resourced companies in the world to tackle this urgent issue, despite previous eSafety reports in 2022 and 2023 showing not enough was being done.'
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Yahoo
Social giants lashed for child sex abuse fail
E-Safety commissioner Julie Inman-Grant has lashed tech giants including Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft for 'turning a blind eye' on rife child sexual exploitation and abuse circulating on its platforms. Types of abuse include grooming and sexual extortion, and the proliferation of images and material. None of the social media giants surveyed used tools to detect child sexual exploitation, the e-safety report found. The first biannual report uses findings submitted by the tech giants themselves, and covers eight platforms including Apple, Discord, Google (the parent company of YouTube), Meta (which houses Facebook and Instagram), Microsoft, Skype, Snap and WhatsApp. Apple, Discord, Google and Microsoft were singled out for not using hash matching, a kind of file comparison tool to detect the spread of harmful content on known abusive material, which has already been detected by child abuse hotlines and law enforcement. The report also attacked Apple services and YouTube for not tracking the number of reports they received on child sexual abuse, or how long they took to respond to the complaints. Both platforms also failed to disclose the number of trust and safety staff hired by the platform, according to the report. It also found that despite warnings from the eSafety office dating back to 2022 and 2023, only Meta used tools to detect grooming, while only Meta and WhatsApp had tools to identify sexual extortion. Ms Inman-Grant said that 'when left to their own devices' social media companies don't 'prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services'. She also urged the eight companies to make 'meaningful progress' to protect children. 'We need to keep the pressure on the tech industry as a whole to live up to their responsibility to protect society's most vulnerable members from the most egregious forms of harm and that's what these periodic notices are designed to encourage,' she said. 'No other consumer-facing industry would be given the licence to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services.' This comes after Communications Minister Annika Wells confirmed YouTube would be included in the under-16s social media ban, with the video streaming giant already threatening the federal government with a High Court challenge. However children and teens under 16 will still be able to access the platform in a logged out state or through an adult's account.
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Yahoo
Australian court rejects X Corp.'s appeal in child safety case, orders legal costs
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian appeals court on Thursday ruled against X Corp., rejecting a challenge to a safety watchdog's demands for details on how the Elon Musk -owned company was combating widespread child exploitation material on its platform. Three federal court judges unanimously rejected X's appeal against a federal court decision in October last year that the company was obliged to respond to a notice from eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant on child abuse material being shared on X, which is incorporated in Texas. The judges also ordered X to pay the commissioner's legal costs. Inman Grant's office describes itself as the world's first government agency dedicated to keeping people safe online. Inman Grant has driven world-first legislation that will ban Australian children younger than 16 from social media platforms including X from December. The federal court case goes back to early 2023, when Inman Grant asked some of the world's largest technology companies to report on what they were doing about child abuse material appearing on their platforms. A reporting notice, issued under Australia's Online Safety Act, was sent to Twitter Inc., incorporated in Delaware, in February that year. Twitter merged with X the following month. X arguments against complying with Inman Grant's order included that Twitter no longer existed as a legal entity and that X did not carry its predecessor's regulatory obligations in Australia. Inman Grant, a former Twitter employee, welcomed Thursday's ruling. 'This judgment confirms the obligations to comply with Australian regulations still apply, regardless of a foreign company's merger with another foreign company,' she said in a statement. She said her agency would continue enforcing the Online Safety Act and 'holding all tech companies to account without fear or favor, ensuring they comply with the laws of Australia.' 'Without meaningful transparency, we cannot hold technology companies accountable,' she said. X lawyer Justin Quill said he had not yet read the appeals court judges' reasons and could not comment on the possibility of a High Court appeal. The High Court only hears around 10% of appeal applications, so the federal court full-bench decision could be final in X's case. X's media office did not immediately respond to an email request for comment on Thursday. In 2023, Inman Grant's office fined X 610, 500 Australian dollars ($385,000) for failing to fully explain how it tackled child exploitation content. X's response was considered incomplete or misleading. X refused to pay and the penalty is the subject of a separate and ongoing federal court case. Rod Mcguirk, The Associated Press Sign in to access your portfolio
