New era of transparency dawns for the digital industry

The eSafety Commissioner will today issue legal notices to Meta, WhatsApp, Apple, Microsoft, Skype, Snap, and Omegle requiring these services to provide detailed information about the steps they are taking to meet the Australian Government’s Basic Online Safety Expectations.

Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP, has welcomed the first formal information requests issued by the eSafety Commissioner under the Online Safety Act 2021.

The notices require the companies to explain what they are doing to meet the Expectations which are set out in the Act and supporting legislative instrument. This first round of reports will focus on what these companies are doing to address child sexual exploitation material.

Lack of transparency is an ongoing challenge for governments trying to protect their citizens from online harms. To date, industry has chosen what information they will release about the types of harms occurring on their services, the steps they are taking to address them, and how this data is presented.

Service providers issued with a notice under the Expectations are now required to report to the eSafety Commissioner within 28 days. Failure to report may result in heavy fines of up to $555,000 a day.

eSafety recently released regulatory guidance on the Expectations to help industry comply with these notices.

For more information about the Basic Online Safety Expectations, visit esafety.gov.au

Quotes attributable to the Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP:

“This first set of notices marks a key step in the implementation of the Basic Online Safety Expectations.

The reporting from industry will help inform future government decisions around what needs to be done to protect Australians online, and improve transparency to the public.

The Albanese Government supports online safety for Australians, and we expect the same from industry.

We urge service providers to comply with notices from the eSafety Commissioner and report on the steps they are taking to keep Australians safe online.”