Tech companies failing to protect Children online safety

English , International - بین الاقوامی , Snippets , / Wednesday, August 6th, 2025

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Canberra, August 6, 2025 — Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has strongly criticised major technology companies for not doing enough to protect children from online sexual abuse.
In a report released on Wednesday, Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said global tech giants like Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and others are still not using the basic tools available to prevent child sexual exploitation and abuse on their platforms.
“These companies are among the most powerful and well-resourced in the world, yet many are not even using standard safety measures,” said Inman Grant. “If any other industry allowed such crimes on their premises, it would not be tolerated.”
The report revealed that Apple, Google, and WhatsApp are not blocking web links that lead to known abusive material. Meanwhile, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Discord have failed to apply content detection tools across all their services. None of the eight companies examined were using tools to detect live-streamed abuse everywhere on their platforms.
Last year, the eSafety office issued transparency notices to Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Discord, WhatsApp, Snap, and Skype. These notices require the companies to report every six months on how they are tackling online child abuse. Despite this, the report found little progress since similar reviews were published in 2022 and 2023.
Although there were small improvements, such as Discord and Snap starting to use tools to detect grooming language, the overall findings suggest that tech companies are not prioritising child safety.
“Children deserve safe spaces online. These companies have the ability to act, but many choose not to,” said Inman Grant. “Protecting children must come before profit or convenience.”
The report calls for stronger accountability and transparency from technology firms and urges global cooperation to make the internet safer for all children.