Google and Meta urged to increase efforts in combating child abuse material
Failure to respond could result in services being fined up to $782,500 a day.
Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple are required to submit a report every six months to the eSafety Commission detailing their actions against child abuse material on their platforms.
Social media services like Discord and WhatsApp must provide a more comprehensive overview of their strategies for handling AI-generated deep fake material of children, live-streamed abuse, sexual extortion, in addition to child abuse material.
If they fail to respond, services could face fines of up to $782,500 (US$517,000) per day.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant emphasized that these notices are intended to push tech giants to enhance their efforts in safeguarding children online.
She noted that previous reports on online child safety yielded alarming yet unsurprising results, with little improvement seen in subsequent discussions with these companies.
Apple and Microsoft do not actively detect child abuse material stored in their cloud services, while platforms like FaceTime, Discord, and Skype lack technology to identify abuse during live streams.
Several Google services, including YouTube, fail to block links to websites housing child abuse material.
Response times vary among platforms, with Microsoft taking about two days on average to respond, compared to Snap’s four-minute response time.
The current focus of these notices is to prevent adults from contacting children online, address sexual extortion risks, combat livestreaming issues, and tackle AI-generated deepfakes.
Companies have until February 15, 2025, to submit their initial response.
Protect the Most Vulnerable
UNICEF applauds the initiative to safeguard children online and hold tech companies accountable for their actions.
They emphasize the importance of creating a safe digital environment for young people to explore, connect, and learn.
UNICEF also advocates for stronger measures in the Online Safety Act to ensure the highest level of protection for children.
The eSafety Commission’s effort to enforce codes preventing children from accessing pornography follows concerns raised by Ms. Inman Grant about children being exposed to explicit content at a young age.
It’s crucial for tech companies to provide information to the eSafety Commissioner on their efforts to protect vulnerable individuals.
She stated that children as young as 13 are encountering pornography, with a significant portion exposed to such content on social media platforms.
