Big tech companies are still failing to tackle child abuse material online
Big tech companies are still failing to tackle child abuse material online
Publish Date: 2026-02-04 18:31:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
- In the 2024-25 financial year, there was a 41% increase in reports of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), with nearly 83,000 reports received by the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.
- eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant insists that major tech companies, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Meta, must provide transparency notices every six months about their actions to combat online child exploitation.
- While there has been some progress in detecting known abuse material and reducing moderation times, serious safety gaps remain, indicating that more proactive measures are needed.
- Despite detection advances by some companies like Snap (11-minute moderation response time) and Microsoft (expanding abuse detection in Outlook), many, including Apple, Discord, and Google Meet, fail to utilize available tools for proactive detection and often rely on user reports.
- The major areas of concern highlighted are live video and encrypted environments, where insufficient effort has been made to detect live online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
- The Commissioner emphasizes that a legally mandated Digital Duty of Care is necessary to ensure tech companies design their systems with safety in mind from the outset, rather than waiting for issues to emerge.
- To enhance safety, the focus should move from merely detecting harmful material to deterring and disrupting such behaviours, including sharing warning messages and directing users to support services.
- The adoption of safety by design should become a standard practice for tech companies, going beyond mere compliance and addressing issues proactively through legislation.
