Peter Dutton puts social media platforms’ ‘moral lens’ under the microscope

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has revealed that social media giants were obstructive over online child abuse ahead of the government’s world-first ban for under-16s.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has slammed tech giants, revealing that they gave the government “the middle finger” when looking into the spread of child abuse material on social media platforms.

Mr Dutton spoke his mind on Olympic diver Sam Fricker’s podcast Diving Deep, as the government prepares to enforce legislation to ban under 16s from social network use.

Mr Dutton discussed his efforts as Home Affairs Minister to stamp out child abuse through the Australian Centre to Child Exploitation, which was established in September 2018.

“(The ACCE) was concentrating on trying to stop pedophile networks from distributing graphic content and children being sexually abused,” he told the podcast.

“When we dealt with the companies at that stage, with… Meta and others, they basically just gave us the middle finger and said that we’re not going to help you in stopping that information being distributed between these networks.”

Mr Dutton said Meta and others gave his requests to stop child abuse from prolierating online “the middle finger”. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

“It was a real eye opener to me at the time because I just thought that they would have the same moral lens as anybody in corporate world,” Mr Dutton said.

“What it said to me at the time - and I think what’s really been reinforced since - is that that they just they see a 14-year-old as a revenue model.”

To hammer home his point, Mr Dutton compared the lax attitude of tech companies with standards in traditional publishing and media.

“If you publish that content on the front page of The Daily Telegraph you would be arrested for the graphic material that you had published,” the Opposition Leader said.

“If you send it in an encrypted message to a fellow pedophile, the company’s protecting you.”

Australia’s world-first legislation restricting young Australians from accessing social media has bilateral support,

The social media ban was raised by the Albanese government over fears children were self harming following online bullying, grooming, and extortion.

The issues were highlighted by News Corp’s “Let Them Be Kids” campaign, which launched in May 2024.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton backs the under-16s social media ban and said he received pushback from tech companies when he raised the issue of child exploitation on their platforms. Picture: NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

Mr Dutton backs the social media ban and believes it will have a positive effect.

“(Social media is) obviously the way that people can connect through groups and sharing videos and content,” he said.

“But there’s a lot of harm that’s been done and a huge rise in mental health issues in Australia some of which I think is related, say in Victoria to lockdowns during Covid, but other parts of it I think social media has a real case to answer here.”

The ban comes into effect at the end of 2025.

Social media giants had urged the government to delay the bill until next year as the $6.5 million age-verification trial to determine its effectiveness was still ongoing.

Tech companies will be fined up to $50 million if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to keep children under the age of 16 off their platforms.