Revealed: the number of children being groomed online

Australian children are being subjected to sexual approaches online and should gain stronger protection under federal law, a leading researcher has declared in a new call to ban young people from social media.

The warning counters claims that the federal government will face legal and technical challenges to its contentious move last week to protect children online, sparking a row over the new rules for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and other platforms.

Childlight says 300 million children were affected by online child sexual exploitation and abuse last year.Credit: Shutterstock

Michael Salter, the Australasian head of global child safety institute Childlight, said the global research proved the need to act on the problem despite claims from tech companies that they were already working on the issue and that age assurance was too complicated to put into practice.

The Childlight global index found 12.5 per cent of children had been sexually solicited online over the past year and 3.5 per cent were subject to sexual extortion.

“I think that is a completely unsustainable level of online sexual abuse,” said Salter, a professor at the University of NSW.

“I cannot imagine any other institution that would be allowed to function when more than one in 10 children comes to sexual harm within their premises, and I see no reason why social media is any different.

“Action has been urgent for a long time, and it’s good to see governments muscle up to the technology sector and put them on notice.”

Federal officials will on Wednesday brief technology executives about the plans to set up a $6.5 million trial of the age assurance concept with help from software suppliers, but there is no starting date for the trial.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to put the draft law to parliament before the end of the year, saying he favoured a ban for everyone up to the age of 16. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton earlier this year called for an age limit of 16.

The time required for the technical trial has fuelled speculation the government may not be able to finalise its policy this year and will have to wait for agreements with the states and territories at national cabinet.

Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman, who called for age verification last year, said the prime minister must meet the commitment to reveal the law this year.

“The trial is a shambles. The tender to run it doesn’t even close until October 7, so who knows when it will actually be completed,” he said.

“The Coalition moved legislation for a trial last year – it would have been completed months ago if the government had supported our legislation.”

Childlight is a not-for-profit institute based at the University of Edinburgh and led by Paul Stanfield, a former director of Interpol’s global organised crime program. Its work is based on academic and other research from 57 countries.

The latest findings conclude that 300 million children under the age of 18 were affected by online child sexual exploitation and abuse last year. The institute said one in eight children experienced non-consensual sharing or exposure to sexual images and videos.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called the ban a “knee-jerk” response to the problem, arguing instead for better education for young people online, and several academic experts warned against a blanket ban.

“Government calls for a ban on social media for young people are premature and not supported by clear evidence,” said Lisa Given, professor of information sciences at RMIT, in a statement last week.

“Young people may also find ways to circumvent these bans and be less likely to disclose if they have encountered harmful content.”

‘I cannot imagine any other institution that would be allowed to function when more than one in 10 children comes to sexual harm within their premises.’

University of Sydney senior lecturer Justine Humphry said last week that an age-related social media and gaming ban ignored evidence as well as the voices of young people.

Salter rejected the argument that the technology was complicated and would be difficult to put into practice, even if parliament agreed on the law.

“It’s a self-serving argument from the technology sector,” he said.

“The fact is that the technology sector invests in technology that suits their bottom line and makes them money. It hasn’t invested in age-verification technology because it doesn’t suit them to do so.

“It is up to government to set the standards for the delivery of technological services, and if companies can’t meet them, then they don’t get to bring those services to market.”

Salter also disputed the idea that it was better to allow children to learn online rather than banning them from social media networks.

“The internet is a very unregulated ecosystem that is awash with harmful content, and it is an environment that’s easily manipulated by child sex offenders. So I think that there is a kind of a naivety in the suggestion that we should just let kids wander around in the jungle and fend for themselves,” he said.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland promised the draft law this year.

“The government is strongly committed to making sure Australian kids can have a safe and positive experience online,” she said.

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