Children over profit: Big tech needs to protect children from predators, porn

12 recommendations to improve online safety for children

In our November 2021 Submission on Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations - BOSE) Determination, we highlighted the harms to children facilitated by vested interests of the tech industry, and called for measures to stop these harms. 

Our 12 recommendations included:

• Websites including gaming and social media platforms and other online service providers that host or provide pornographic content should be classified as Class 1 material.
• That expectations that providers “take reasonable steps to ensure safe use” be changed to “take necessary steps to ensure safe use”. (We note that “reasonable” is not defined in the draft determination materials).
• We support the requirements that providers consult with the Commissioner and refer to this guidance in ensuring safe use.
• Raise the lower age limit to 18 years for all platforms which host adults and adult content.
• Proactive human moderation should be conducted by child safety/welfare experts to find, remove, and document and report sexualisation, sexual exploitation, grooming and other predatory activity targeting a child.
• We urge the eSafety Commissioner to provide industry with explicit minimum standards for CSEM-related matters.
• That requirements that providers consult with the Commissioner and refer to this guidance in ensuring safe use be supported.
• That the list of types of material that must be minimised by providers is agreed to.
• That pornography labelled as ‘education’ should not be exempt from core expectations and must be restricted from children’s viewing.
• That intimate images for which consent has not been explicitly given or has been withdrawn qualify for rapid removal.
• That advertising of commercial sexual exploitation material (brothels, prostitution, massage parlours, sexual services of any kind) should be restricted from access by children.
• That BOSE specify that children must be protected from class 2 material on e-commerce platforms.

To read our full submission, click on the image below.

Read more about the public consultation and see the full list of submissions here.

See also

No Facebook, you're not doing enough to protect children.

‘I would love to f*** you so hard’: Girls deserve better than Instagram

Collective Shout Submission - full list