We're asking our government to lift Australia's online safety standards, and show tech companies we won't stand for the sexual exploitation of children on the world's major platforms.

We need to raise our standards for the greater good. Will you help us?

Sign the petition to show our government we want a stronger Online Safety Act and hold tech companies to account for facilitating the online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) on their platforms.

Read the Petition

"YEPS"

GO ON, ADD ANOTHER ONE.

Aussies, Get Tough on Tech

Petition from IJM Australia and certain citizens of Australia to the Minister for Communications, Hon Michelle Rowland MP.

Reason

Online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) is a global crime in which children are sexually abused by traffickers who livestream the abuse to sex offenders anywhere in the world. Online child sex offenders pay for and direct the sexual abuse on everyday social media and video messaging services.

Child victims and contact offenders are usually located in developing countries, whilst online offenders are usually located in developed countries, including Australia.

International Justice Mission (IJM) researched the prevalence of OSEC in the Philippines, a global hot spot for this crime type, and found that 1 in 100, or half a million children were trafficked to produce new child sexual abuse material in 2022 alone.

According to the Philippine Government, Australians have ranked the third-highest remitters in both volume and value of OSEC-related transactions to the Philippines since 2015, behind the US and the UK.

Request

We therefore ask the Minister to legislate stronger online safety obligations for tech companies operating in Australia to protect children from online sexual exploitation, through amendments to the Online Safety Act 2021, currently under review. Specifically:

The eSafety Commissioner should have the power to issue more significant penalties to tech companies that fail to comply with notices relating to child sexual abuse material;
Tech companies should be required to develop their platforms, devices and operating systems safe by design to prevent and disrupt the production and sharing of child sexual abuse material; and
The Act's provisions should apply to protect children overseas who are sexually exploited by Australian offenders online, not just to protect Australian end users.

Principal petitioner: Grace Wong, Chief Advocacy Officer, IJM Australia.

HOLD THE PHONE.

WHAT
IN THE WORLD
IS OSEC?

Online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) is a global crime in which children are sexually abused by traffickers who livestream the abuse to sex offenders anywhere in the world, including Australia. Online child sex offenders pay for and direct the sexual abuse via livestreamed video on everyday social media and messaging services.

It's a form of modern slavery that was unimaginable before the digital age. A 2023 survey of 1,945 Australian men found that 2.5% had knowingly and deliberately viewed sexually abusing material containing people below the age of 18.

To learn more about the prevalence of OSEC in a global hot spot of the Philippines, read our Scale of Harm study.

Australians have ranked the third-highest customers in both volume and value of OSEC-related transactions to the Philippines since 2015.

Australian offenders paid $1.3 million across 9,000 transactions to procure child sexual abuse from the Philippines between 2020 - 2022.

In 2022, the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children analyzed over 32 million reports of child sexual abuse material received from around the globe. That's an 87% increase from 2019.

BUT WE ARE NOT HAVING IT.

Australia can make a difference in this space - by demanding a higher standard of safety from tech companies.

When we lift the standard for Australia, we lift the standard for everyone.

Right now, global technology giants are not doing their part to make the internet a safe place for everyone.

They are doing little to prevent child sexual abuse material being hosted and shared on their platforms, including everyday social media, video messaging, and online file storage services.

Their inaction is facilitating the online sexual exploitation of children by perpetrators in Australia.

NOT ON OUR SCREENS.

THE ACT IS UNDER REVIEW.

Our Online Safety Act needs some beefing up. That's why she's under review.

As a global leader countering online sexual exploitation of children, IJM has some key advice for the review.

But we need your help to show our government that Aussies take this issue seriously.

SO, WHAT IS
THE ONLINE SAFETY ACT?

The Online Safety Act 2021 sets out the responsibilities of tech companies operating in Australia to address child sexual abuse material on their products and services.

The eSafety Commissioner is empowered by the Act to develop and enforce tech industry codes and standards relating to this content.

WHAT ARE WE ASKING FOR?

THREE THINGS, REALLY.

The penalties Australia can give to tech companies are not strong enough.

The eSafety Commissioner should have the power to issue more significant penalties to tech companies that fail to comply with Australia's online safety obligations.
↑

It's time we start seeing a duty of care approach from tech companies.

The tech industry has the technical expertise and resources to ensure that children are not abused on their products and services.

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.
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Imagine if our road safety laws only protected people inside the vehicle, and not pedestrians?

Right now that's how online safety works - only the users are protected. We want to see protection for innocent bystanders, who may become victims because of the misuse of the internet.

THE NEXT BEST THING YOU CAN DO.

ASK A MATE OR TWO TO SIGN THE PETITION.

Got friends in Australia? This is their issue too. Let's show our government we want to lift the standards.

SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES

We've created some tiles for social media to help you, help us, get the word out.

KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED

Our recommendations will be going before the government later this year. Stay tuned for more opportunities to make an impact.