Morrison warns tech giants over child-sex abuse

Scott Morrison has put tech giants on notice they will be held to account over the proliferation of online child-sex abuse.

Scott Morrison saysthe digital industry can no longer operate in unregulated space.

Scott Morrison has put tech giants including Google, Facebook and Twitter on notice that they will be held to account over the proliferation of online child-sex abuse just as they have been forced to act against terrorists using encrypted products to escape detection.

The Prime Minister’s call for more action comes as the digital industry insists it is co-operating following demands from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance for the companies to provide backdoor keys into criminal networks.

Mr Morrison told The Weekend Australian the digital industry could no longer operate in unregulated space.

“It’s not the wild west; the same laws that apply in the real world should apply in the digital world,” the Prime Minister said. “They can expect us to hold them to account.”

Australia has led a global push to target online child exploitation in a bid to stop what domestic ­intelligence and security agencies claim is an alarming proliferation in the live-streaming of child rape using sophisticated criminal networks.

Earlier this week, a ministerial-level meeting in London of the Five Eyes alliance, which includes Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, accused some companies of deliberately designing systems to prevent access, even to the most serious criminal content.

Mr Morrison said the Australian government had been “closing the net on social media” to make sure companies weren’t “weaponising” the internet for terrorists and that it was a safe space for children.

He cited the work through the G20, the e-safety commissioner and more recently the Five Eyes partnership.

A Five Eyes communique ­released on Tuesday called for an “immediate upscaling” of action from the industry, government and the community to combat what it claimed was an online ­“epidemic” of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Digital Industry Group Incorporated managing director Sunita Bose said the industry had been working with authorities for several years to combat child exploitation. The DIGI group members ­include Google, Facebook, Twitter and ­Verizon Media.

But the Australian Federal Police has reported an 85 per cent rise in live streaming of child sex, as well as online child pornography and abuse by criminal and pedophile networks.

Ms Bose told The Weekend Australian : “DIGI members have zero tolerance for child sexual ­exploitation on their services. The industry has worked extensively with law enforcement in the shared goal to address this content for many years, and I have no doubt it will continue to do so in future.

“The industry also works collaboratively in this shared goal, leveraging PhotoDNA and photo hashing technology to identify and remove online images of child abuse across different digital platforms.”

The Five Eyes meeting ­resolved to give the digital companies and device manufacturers until next month to report back on meeting a set of agreed principles.

However, it went further in ­demanding companies co-operate with security and policing agencies.

“We are concerned where companies deliberately design their systems in a way that precludes any form of access to content, even in cases of the most serious crimes,” a communique of the meeting said.

“Tech companies should include mechanisms in the design of their encrypted products and services whereby governments, acting with appropriate legal authority, can obtain access to data in a readable and usable ­format.

“Those companies should also embed the safety of their users in their system designs, enabling them to take action against illegal content.”