Parliament House event targets livestreamed abuse
A digital duty of care for technology companies will be the key focus of an online safety event at Parliament House Canberra on 29 June 2026.
At Parliament House, the Parliamentary Friends Against Sexual Abuse and Exploitation is hosting the forum to examine child sexual abuse and the laws needed to deter it.
David Braga, chief executive of IJM Australia, will join the panel and focus on abuse streamed through video call services and smart devices.
IJM Australia wants the Australian Government to move faster on legislation that makes platforms detect, disrupt and prevent livestreamed child sexual abuse before offenders can use their services.
“Livestreamed child sexual abuse is one of the fastest growing and least detected forms of child abuse globally,” Mr Braga said.
According to IJM Australia, current online safety rules leave serious gaps when offenders use common messaging and video apps to direct abuse in other countries, including the Philippines.
“Australia’s Online Safety Act is not fit-for-purpose,” Mr Braga said. “Most tech companies are not preventing offenders from using everyday apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to access and direct the live sexual abuse of children in their video call services – often in countries like the Philippines.”
Digital duty of care debate
Under the eSafety Commissioner’s transparency reporting regime, many technology companies still fail to identify and stop live online child sexual exploitation, despite existing tools and years of warnings.
If adopted, the proposed duty of care would shift more responsibility onto platforms and device makers, rather than relying mainly on action after harm occurs.
Apple’s child safety tools have become part of the policy debate. Apple offers features that block nude imagery for children on several of its own services, including FaceTime and iMessage.
However, IJM Australia argues those protections do not go far enough because they do not protect children exploited through adult accounts.
In the United Kingdom, plans released earlier this month would push major firms such as Apple and Google to use built-in features or technical fixes on smartphones and tablets to detect and block nude images for children.
Australian reform work is also already on the record. A February 2025 independent review of the Online Safety Act recommended a digital duty of care, and the Australian Government committed to that reform in November 2024.
“It’s time to deliver on the next tranche of reforms, which includes a digital duty of care,” Mr Braga said.
Canberra has also moved on related online safety measures, including social media age verification laws and stronger powers and penalties for the eSafety Commissioner.
Organisers aim to raise public awareness of child sexual abuse while pressing for policy settings that make digital services harder for offenders to exploit.
Last updated: 29 June 2026, 11:45 am
