Revenge porn reports among young Aussies almost double

Shocking new figures have inspired a new campaign aimed at protecting young people from a troubling online trend.

Reports of so-called “revenge porn” on social media by young people has almost doubled over the past year, according to shocking new figures from the eSafety Commission that inspired a new campaign against the trend.

Image-based abuse is one of several forms of harassment against teenagers and young adults online that will be targeted in the new campaign to run across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the online campaign, called SCROLL, had been formulated with input from six Generation Z creators, and was designed to help young Australians become more aware of what to do “when they experience strife online”.

eSafety Commisioner Julie Inman Grant at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2022.

“At its heart, it’s about empowering teenagers to get the help they need to stay safe online so they can keep doing all the things they love and reduce their risk of being abused, harassed or groomed for the purpose of sexual exploitation or extortion,” she said.

More than 1000 Australians reported image-based abuse to the eSafety Commission between January and March 2022, up from more than 600 in 2021.

But more than three in every five of those complaints were from young Australians, aged between 13 and 24 years old, and the reports rose from 368 last year to 667 in 2022.

Western Sydney University professor Amanda Third, who led the study behind the campaign, said it was important to reach out to young Australians to ensure they felt confident to navigate online risks and deal with serious incidents if they occurred.

“What’s obvious from the research is that young people do need and want support to deal with online safety risks and there’s a real need for us to work really closely with them,” she said.

“The thing is that young people are sometimes navigating these things for the first time and there’s a sense we have to take extra precaution with them.”

The study revealed young people’s main online safety concerns related to interactions with

others online, such as catfishing, fake accounts, and contact from unknown

people; privacy issues, including the exposure of personal information, photos, and

stolen identities; and security issues, such as hackers, scams, and malware.

Cyberbullying was a key concern, as well as sexual exploitation, such as grooming and being approached by predators; accessing or being exposed content such as pornography and violence; misinformation and fake news; commercial advertising, including sexually based or false advertising the sale of illegal or inappropriate goods; and receiving judgment from peers about their opinions online.

Ms Third said children and teenagers were often exposed to more cyberbullying incidents than other internet users, and research showed they wanted access to support services where their reports would be handled “confidentially” and without judgment.

The SCROLL campaign, featuring stories led by Dante, Patience, Tobias, Nya, Elliot and Chloe, will launch on Monday.