Australia’s online watchdog yesterday accused tech giants including Apple and Google of “turning a blind eye” to child sex abuse material shared on their platforms.
The Australian eSafety Commission found that Apple and video streaming site YouTube, which is owned by Google, did not track the number of user reports they received about child sexual abuse, nor did they outline how long it took to respond to the reports.
“When left to their own devices, these companies aren’t prioritizing the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
Photo: Reuters
Tech companies had not “taken many steps to lift and improve their efforts” since she asked them three years ago, Grant said.
“No other consumer-facing industry would be given the license to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services,” she added.
The commission’s report also found that companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Skype did not use tools to proactively detect child sex abuse material.
Tech companies are required to report to the commission every six months on how they are tackling child sexual abuse material, including images generated by artificial intelligence.
Grant said she hoped she would see “meaningful progress.”
A Google spokesperson said that the commission’s findings were “rooted in reporting metrics, not online safety performance.”
“Child safety is critical to us. We’ve led the industry fight against child sexual abuse material since day one, investing heavily in advanced technology to proactively find and remove this harmful content,” the spokesperson said.
More than 90 percent of all child sexual abuse content on YouTube was removed by YouTube’s “robust automated systems” before it was flagged or viewed by users, the spokesperson added.
Australia last year unveiled laws that would ban under-16s from social media by the end of this year.
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