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The Australian eSafety Commissioner has issued legal notices to Google, Meta, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Reddit concerning the spread of dangerous content on their platforms.
The Australian eSafety Commissioner has called on a raft of major tech giants to demonstrate the steps they are taking to protect Australians from the spread of extremist- and terrorist-related content online.
Google, Meta, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, Telegram and Reddit have all been issued with legal notices by the eSafety Commissioner and given 49 days to answer a “series of detailed questions”. The notices were issued under the Online Safety Act’s transparency powers.
As a case in point, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant (pictured) said that her office is still receiving reports of “perpetrator-produced material” being circulated online – and on mainstream platforms – from the Christchurch terror attack in 2019.
“We remain concerned about how extremists weaponise technology like live streaming, algorithms and recommender systems and other features to promote or share this hugely harmful material,” Inman Grant said in a statement.
“We are also concerned by reports that terrorists and violent extremists are moving to capitalise on the emergence of generative AI and are experimenting with ways this new technology can be misused to cause harm.”
Inman Grant noted that the UN-backed Tech against Terrorism had also seen reports of Islamic State terrorists comparing the benefits of various generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft and Google’s alternatives.
Similarly, Telegram is well known as a platform for extremist rhetoric and organisations. In fact, it’s the most popular platform for hosting such material, with YouTube and Twitter ranked second and third, respectively, according to a recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report.
“The tech companies that provide these services have a responsibility to ensure that these features and their services cannot be exploited to perpetrate such harm, and that’s why we are sending these notices to get a look under the hood at what they are and are not doing,” Inman Grant said.
“It’s no coincidence we have chosen these companies to send notices to as there is evidence that their services are exploited by terrorists and violent extremists. We want to know why this is and what they are doing to tackle the issue.”
Inman Grant also said that while transparency is a key part of both the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and the Christchurch Call – initiatives that most of these companies are a part of – the major tech companies are still not forthcoming with the steps they are taking to combat the spread of such information.
“Disappointingly, none of these companies have chosen to provide this information through the existing voluntary framework – developed in conjunction with industry – provided by the OECD,” Inman Grant said.
“This shows why regulation and mandatory notices are needed to truly understand the true scope of challenges and opportunities.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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