Tougher on Tech

Tougher on Tech

The online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) is a crime where children are sexually abused by traffickers who livestream their abuse to offenders who direct and pay for it from anywhere in the world, including Australia.  

The US based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children received 36.2 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation and abuse globally in 2023 – a 12% rise compared with 2022.  

Almost half a million children in the Philippines are trafficked to produce child sexual abuse materials for paying customers and Australian offenders are the third-highest consumers. 

International Justice Mission (IJM) Australia is ...

The online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) is a crime where children are sexually abused by traffickers who livestream their abuse to offenders who direct and pay for it from anywhere in the world, including Australia.  

The US based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children received 36.2 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation and abuse globally in 2023 – a 12% rise compared with 2022.  

Almost half a million children in the Philippines are trafficked to produce child sexual abuse materials for paying customers and Australian offenders are the third-highest consumers. 

International Justice Mission (IJM) Australia is calling on the Australian Government to do more to protect children from OSEC by strengthening the Online Safety Act, which is currently under review. Specifically, they should… 

✅ Increase the fines.
The eSafety Commissioner should have the power to issue more significant penalties to tech companies for failing to comply with their online safety obligations.  

✅ Expand safety expectations. 
Tech companies must put the safety and rights of children impacted by the use of their products and services at the centre of their design. By expanding the basic online safety expectations to include device manufacturers and operating system developers, we can prevent the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material without impacting user privacy. 

✅ Protect all children. 
Tech companies should have a legal duty of care to prevent online harm from occurring through their products and services. The onus should be on them to make sure their platform design, algorithms and business models do not facilitate the sexual exploitation or abuse of children.  

By contacting your local MP, you can help them recognise this issue is important to their voters and motivate them to strengthen the Act to protect children from OSEC.   

Together, let’s get Tougher on Tech by raising our voices to our local politicians, and ask them to raise theirs too! 📣 

Find out about the Online Safety Act review here.

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GET TOUGHER ON TECH: CALL YOUR LOCAL MP ☎️

We must do more to protect children from online sexual exploitation by strengthening our online safety laws. Get Tougher on Tech by calling your local MP to show the Australian Government that we won’t tolerate OSEC on Australian screens! 📣 

Length: 3 minutes 

Hello, my name is <name>, and I live at <residential address> in <federal electorate name>.  

I’m calling to ask you to register my views about a federal issue and to pass them on to <name of MP>. 

I am concerned that the tech sector is not doing enough to stop livestreamed child sexual abuse or exploitation on their online platforms. This crime affects children across the world, including Australia and the Philippines.  

<use one or more ...

Length: 3 minutes 

Hello, my name is <name>, and I live at <residential address> in <federal electorate name>.  

I’m calling to ask you to register my views about a federal issue and to pass them on to <name of MP>. 

I am concerned that the tech sector is not doing enough to stop livestreamed child sexual abuse or exploitation on their online platforms. This crime affects children across the world, including Australia and the Philippines.  

<use one or more of the below statistics> 

  • The Australian Federal Police received over 40,000 reports of online child sexual exploitation in 2022-23. This was 110% more than the previous year. 
  • According to International Justice Mission, 1 in 100 children in the Philippines were trafficked to produce child sexual abuse material for paying customers online in 2022.  
  • This crime is currently enabled by tech companies providing popular social media and messaging services in Australia.  

The Parliament must strengthen Australia’s online safety laws to require tech companies to prevent livestreamed child sexual abuse on their platforms when doing business here. 

The federal Online Safety Act is currently being reviewed.  

I’m asking for the support of <name of MP> to strengthen the Online Safety Act to require tech companies to do more to prevent, detect and block child sexual abuse materials on their products and services. 

International Justice Mission has made recommendations to the Online Safety Act review, informed by survivors of online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines.

✅ Increase the fines. 
 The eSafety Commissioner should have the power to issue more significant penalties to tech companies for failing to comply with their online safety obligations.   

✅ Expand safety expectations.  
 Tech companies must put the safety and rights of children impacted by the use of their products and services at the centre of their design. By expanding the basic online safety expectations to include device manufacturers and operating system developers, we can prevent the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material without impacting user privacy.  

✅ Protect all children.  
 Tech companies should have a legal duty of care to prevent online harm from occurring through their products and services. The onus should be on them to make sure their platform design, algorithms and business models do not facilitate the sexual exploitation or abuse of children.   

The independent review will be handed to the Minister for Communications on the 31st October this year.  

I am asking <name of MP> to represent my concerns to the Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, to urge her to adopt International Justice Mission’s recommendations when the Government responds to the review. 

Thank you for registering my concerns and passing them on to my federal MP. 

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