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UNICEF Australia welcomes stronger protections for children online
Freya Lucas
Jun 02, 2023
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UNICEF Australia has welcomed the announcement of stronger protections for children online, via industry codes and standards released by the eSafety Commissioner.
“Australian children are spending more time online than ever, and both they and their parents are rightly concerned about the risk of experiencing online harms and abuse, or being exposed to inappropriate content,” said John Livingstone, Online Policy Manager at UNICEF Australia.“The industry codes and standards announced today by the eSafety Commissioner provide stronger rules which the tech industry must comply with – and give better protections to keep our children safer online.”
UNICEF Australia especially welcomed strengthened measures which will ultimately require services to better detect and act on child sexual abuse material.
“We want Australia to be the safest place in the world for children to go online. We are grateful for the work of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, which has put the interests of children first, by working with industry to develop this suite of codes, and where they were not strong enough – committing to developing standards which industry must reach instead,” said Mr Livingstone.
UNICEF Australia believes that the approach to children’s safety online should always be one seeking the highest level of protection, but without unduly limiting their right to be online, which has valuable benefits.
“Australia is in many ways leading the world when it comes to online safety, establishing the world’s first government agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online – the eSafety Commissioner – and introducing world-first powers which gave the legal authority to compel tech companies to give answers to questions about how they are keeping people safe online. We should continue to lead by being at the forefront of creating safe digital environments for children.”
“We acknowledge the hard work that has gone into these codes from industry groups, from those who have responded to the consultations, and from the eSafety Commissioner. These codes are just the beginning, dealing with the most severe content, and there will be more work needed along the way to further protect children online – especially on social media sites, where children spend so much time,” Mr Livingstone continued.
“We are eager to work collaboratively with all involved on forthcoming codes and standards for other types of content, to help make Australia the safest place in the world for children to engage with digital environments.”
Access the new codes here.
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