Statement on Digital Duty of Care draft law
International Justice Mission Australia
8 September 2026
International Justice Mission (IJM), the world’s largest anti-slavery organisation, welcomes the Australian Government’s release of draft legislation regarding the proposed digital duty of care.
The legislation includes provisions that would require tech companies to take reasonable steps to prevent their adult users from accessing illegal content including child sexual exploitation and abuse materials on their platforms and smart devices.
IJM Australia CEO David Braga said the draft legislation is an important milestone and a step closer to a more fit-for-purpose online safety framework.
“We will review the draft legislation before providing more detailed feedback to the Government. Livestreamed child sexual abuse is one of the fastest growing and least detected forms of child abuse globally. It is high volume illegal content that must be stopped,” Mr Braga said.
“Most tech companies are still not preventing adult 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.
Philippine Survivor Network Leader Barbie said, “The digital duty of care law in Australia should make the tech companies take responsibility for keeping the children safe online, which helps protect kids here and everywhere. My message to the Australian Government is please act now. Strong laws and proper enforcement can protect children before harm happens.”
Mr Braga said, “Requiring tech companies to proactively prevent their products from creating, storing and sharing illegal child sexual abuse materials should be a mandatory minimum safeguard for all online platforms and smart devices under a digital duty of care. This would not impinge on lawful free speech.
“Big tech companies are among the most influential and well resourced in the world. If they are unwilling to voluntarily crack down on livestreamed child sexual abuse, then they must be compelled to do so under legislation. This draft bill is a step in the right direction.
“Apple now offers a service blocking nude imagery for children on several of its own apps including FaceTime and iMessage. Although this new feature doesn’t extend far enough to protect children from being sexually exploited on adult accounts, it demonstrates that tools are available to address these challenges in a user privacy preserving way. Similarly, Microsoft is running a trial to detect and disrupt child sexual abuse materials in Teams calls on flagged accounts, proving this technology is feasible and privacy preserving.”
The eSafety Commissioner’s transparency reporting regime has consistently uncovered that most tech companies are still not detecting and disrupting live online child sexual exploitation and abuse despite years of warnings and industry regulations. Stronger laws requiring a proactive approach are now required.
“This isn’t a new proposal. The independent report following the review of the Online Safety Act in February 2025 recommended a digital duty of care, which the Albanese Government committed to in November 2024. At the same time, the Coalition recommended a statutory duty of care along with stronger obligations on platforms to prevent child sexual abuse materials in the final report of the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society. Meanwhile, the Greens have called for a digital duty of care for over a year,” Mr Braga said.
IJM-commissioned YouGov polling revealed an overwhelming majority of voting Australians surveyed from across the political spectrum considered it to be important that the Australian Government legislates a digital duty of care that would require tech companies to take steps to stop their platforms from being used for child sexual abuse.[1]
“We call on our political leaders to now work together on this bill to better protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse,” Mr Braga said.
Media contact – William Sparling [email protected] 0416 628 276