Australia Duga Apple, Microsoft And Meta Closed In Sexual Harassment Of Children

JAKARTA - Australian regulators suspect tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft are not trying much to remove videos and images of child sexual exploitation from their own digital platforms.

After years of talking with the company, now Australian e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant is using the new law by forcing the two companies to reveal how they are dealing with the matter.

The report, released yesterday, highlights the inadequate use of detection technology and a slow response time that can last up to days.

Grant also said that Apple and Microsoft do not often act to detect child abuse material stored in their iCloud and OneDrive services.

"Some of the world's largest, richest and most powerful tech companies are turning a blind eye to the crime scenes that are happening on their platforms, hosted on cloud-based services, spread through messaging services, and they don't do it at all," Grant told ABC News.

Of the two companies, no one uses tools to detect misuse of live streaming in video chats on Skype, Microsoft Teams, or FaceTime, even though the technology is available, and the detection products Microsoft is developing are used by law enforcement agencies.

"The widespread use of technology, which is clearly inadequate and inconsistent to detect material and disturb child abuse, raises concerns," Grant said.

A Microsoft spokesman said the company was committed to combating the proliferation of harassment material, but as threats to children's safety continued to grow over time.

"And bad actors are becoming more sophisticated in their tactics, we continue to challenge ourselves to suit our response," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

For information, last week Apple announced it would stop scanning its iCloud user accounts in the aim of detecting child abuse material, following pressure from privacy advocates.

According to Grant, it is a step back from their responsibility to help keep children safe.

Apart from Apple and Microsoft, Meta which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as Snap, which owns Snapchat, also received requests for information from the Australian regulator.