For more than 10 years we have been campaigning for politicians to take serious action regarding young people's exposure to pornography. We had a big win recently with the Federal Government finally committing to an age verification trial. 

In the lead up to the Government's announcement our Movement Director Melinda Tankard Reist was interviewed on ABC Radio to discuss the links between porn and violence against women and the impact this is having on young people. Listen here. 

We’ve discovered AI-generated images of young children on Instagram we believe constitute illegal child sexual abuse material.

The images depict little boys in minimal clothing, some adorned with fetish gear, and their bodies oiled. When we reported the account to eSafety, we were told the content was not actionable given the lack of nudity and “non-sexualised posing”.

Identifying perpetrators and victims of AI abuse

From the increasing popularity of ‘deepnude’ apps that virtually undress women, to the creation of degrading and pornographic content of women (including Taylor Swift), we’re starting to get a glimpse of how AI can be used to sexually exploit and abuse women and children online.

For many years Collective Shout has been observing and critiquing developments in the production and online distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). We have a long history of documenting harms facilitated and enabled by online platforms and calling for their regulation. We thank eSafety for taking this next step to compel the online industry to address these harms. Our submission pertains only to CSAM rather than pro-terror material, as sexual exploitation is our area of expertise.

In our Submission on Draft Consolidated Industry Codes of Practice for the Online Industry (Class 1A and Class 1B Material), we called for major changes that would close loopholes that would have allowed CSAM to continue to proliferate on digital services.

We support the requirements outlined in the draft standards for both Designated Internet Services (DIS) and Relevant Electronic Services (RES). We strongly support the inclusion of closed communication and encrypted services in minimum compliance measures. We are pleased to see a strong start made on regulating generative AI.

The proposed additional requirements placed on the industry are proportionate to the extreme harms caused by the production, proliferation, and consumption of CSAM. These requirements constitute new opportunities for the digital sector, allowing the development of a safer and more inclusive internet.

We are hopeful that the framework of investing in research and development of new technologies, combined with the requirement to adopt whatever appropriate technologies are available, will result in a growing capacity for the online industry to address CSAM on and through its platforms.

We appreciate the opportunity to comment again on this important legislative development and propose further recommendations.

Summary of Recommendations

1. More specific guidance should be given in the technical feasibility exception.
2. A service should be required to establish and implement investment and development programs if they meet the monthly user threshold and/or a specified annual turnover threshold.
3. Standards for RES and DIS must require a mandatory time limit in which class 1A and 1B material is removed, and in which further risks are effectively dealt with.
4. The Standard should include the provision of support to personnel who are required to deal with CSAM.
5. Providers must be required to share detection models and information about known bad actors.

eSafety has come under fire from advocates and survivors after it published its Roadmap for Age Verification on Thursday which reveals it met with Pornhub's parent company MindGeek to discuss age verification.

Media Release 

Porn profits before child protection: Government dismisses age verification 

Collective Shout has condemned the Federal Government for refusing to adopt an age verification system as one obstacle to help protect children from exposure to pornography. 

The Federal Government today published the eSafety Commisioner’s Roadmap for Age Verification along with its response.  

This is a sad day for child safeguarding stakeholders who lobbied for years for an age verification system, contributing to Federal inquiries and stakeholder roundtables.  

The Government has caved to the vested interests of the porn industry. 

The Government has passed the buck to the development of industry codes which are still years away from being finalised. It is highly unlikely a pilot, as recommended by the eSafety Commissioner, will ever get off the ground. 

It’s time to stop calling this process a “Roadmap”. There is no “Roadmap”. There are only delays and obstacles to doing anything that would bring the predatory porn industry into line. 

Even while acknowledging porn as a driver of violence against women, as reflected in its National Plan to Address Violence Against Women and Children (2022-2023), the Government has allowed itself to be swayed by industry resistance to an age-verification system. 

If France, Germany, UK, Louisiana and Utah can roll out age verification systems, why can’t we? 

Vested interests should not be put before the wellbeing of children. 

The Government’s initiatives regarding respectful relationships and consent education cannot compete with the world’s largest department of education – the global pornography industry. 

Every day without Government action, more and more children are being exposed to rape, torture, sadism and extreme degradation of women, deforming their developing sexual templates. We are seeing the results in our schools every day, with a rise in sexual harassment, rape threats and demands for nudes. Primary school girls are routinely sent dick pics.  

Adolescent boys aged 15-19 are the largest cohort of sexual offenders in this country,  

In its response to the eSafety report, the Government concludes: “The first duty of any Government is to protect its citizens from harm.” In dismissing the adoption of proof-of-age protections for children, it has failed in this duty.  

Thursday August 31, 2023 

Contact: Melinda Tankard Reist 

Movement Director 

[email protected]  

eSafety delivered its report on a roadmap for age verification to protect children from online wagering and pornography to the Federal Government in March.

But stakeholders do not know what eSafety has recommended or what action the Government will take, as there has been no response.

Draft Codes leave major loopholes for child sexual exploitation