The Albanese Government welcomes the eSafety Commissioner announcing next steps in the development of new, mandatory industry codes to protect children from online pornography and other age inappropriate content.
The new codes will create obligations on industry to restrict access to age inappropriate content on their services.
These codes will apply to all sections of the digital industry – including app stores, internet service providers pornography websites, as well as sites where children unintentionally come across pornography, like social media and gaming sites.
The development of these ‘Phase 2’ codes follows eSafety’s implementation of Phase 1 industry codes and standards, which addressed illegal content such as child exploitation and terrorism material. Phase 1 concluded with registration of new industry standards on 21 June 2024.
Industry codes and standards, which are enforceable under the Online Safety Act, compel industry to establish appropriate safeguards for the community in relation to certain types of harmful online material, referred to as ‘class 1’ and ‘class 2’ material.
If the codes drafted by industry do not provide appropriate safeguards, the eSafety Commissioner can reject them and move to enforceable standards.
The regulator has previously exercised their powers and rejected industry codes for failing to do enough to protect Australians from child sexual abuse and pro-terror content on their platforms.
Development of obligations for industry to establish these essential safeguards under phase 2 codes will be complemented by the Government’s $6.5 million age assurance trial to test available technologies in three use cases: age-inappropriate content like online pornography, age-restricted services, and social media.
The results of the trial will help bolster the effectiveness of codes and standards, by providing examples of additional safeguards to prevent children accessing age inappropriate material in the Australian context.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP:
“The Albanese Government welcomes the eSafety Commissioner’s implementation of the Online Safety Act to keep Australians safe online.
“Despite the misleading claims by the Opposition, the development of codes is not a case of industry marking its own homework.
“If the codes are assessed as inadequate at keeping Australians safe, the eSafety Commissioner has the power to reject them and create enforceable standards – as the regulator did with some Phase 1 codes.
“eSafety’s research with young people found that the average age of first access to pornography was approximately 13 years including through incidental access on social media.
“The Government’s recently funded age assurance trial will complement these codes, and the Government will have more to say about the trial’s implementation plan soon”.
