Kids’ online privacy threat

An audit shows popular entertainment apps aimed at children are collecting and sharing personal data.

The Coalition is urging the Labor government to implement new online privacy laws following an audit showing popular entertainment apps aimed at children were collecting and sharing personal data.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Julian Leeser and communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson seized on an audit of 186 entertainment apps commissioned by Children and Media Australia.

The results showed that more than 100 of the apps contained risky code which allowed some companies to gather data and build profiles on children which could then “follow them for life.”

“Anthony Albanese and his government need to act now,” Mr Leeser and Ms Henderson told The Australian.

“The Albanese government must investigate all regulatory options to protect the privacy of Australian social media users including legislating new online privacy laws to better protect Australians’ data and personal information.”

A spokesman for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told The Australian the government was committed to protecting Australians’ personal information and strengthening privacy laws to “empower users to better control and understand how their data is used.”