YouTube, others 'turning a blind eye' to child abuse material: Australia regulator
In a report released on Wednesday, the eSafety Commissioner said YouTube, with Apple, failed to track the number of user reports it received of child sex abuse appearing on their platforms and also could not say how long it took them to respond to such reports.
The Australian government decided last week to include YouTube in its world-first social media ban for teenagers, after eSafety's advice to overturn its planned exemption for the Alphabet-owned Google's video sharing site.
'When left to their own devices these companies aren't prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services,' eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant 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.'
A Google spokesperson said 'eSafety's comments are rooted in reporting metrics, not online safety performance', adding YouTube's systems proactively removed more than 99% of abuse content before being flagged or viewed.
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