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World's largest anti-slavery organisation urges Australian Government to strengthen laws to stop livestreamed child abuse

International Justice Mission Australia

30 March 2026

A landmark online safety forum will be held today at Parliament House in Canberra calling on the Australian Government to introduce a robust Digital Duty of Care that requires tech companies to detect, disrupt and prevent livestreamed child sexual abuse on their platforms and smart devices.

Organised by International Justice Mission (IJM), the event brings together parliamentarians, the eSafety Commissioner, online safety experts, children’s rights advocates, and policymakers to confront the rapid rise of livestreamed child abuse across Australia and the Asia Pacific.

At the online safety forum, world child safety tech pioneer and co-founder of SafeToNet, Sharon Pursey OBE, will be doing a live demonstration of SafeToNet’s HarmBlock technology.

IJM Australia CEO David Braga says urgent action is needed to protect children.

“Livestreamed child sexual abuse is one of the fastest growing and least detected forms of child abuse globally. There is strong evidence that Australian men are driving the global demand, as one of the top three consumers in the world of child abuse material from the Philippines,” Mr Braga said.[1]

Just this month, the Brisbane Supreme Court heard how an Australian man paid to direct and watch live online the horrific sexual abuse of 25 children in the Philippines aged between three and 15 years old, with abuse including incest and bestiality.[2]

 

Braga continued, “Australia’s Online Safety Act is no longer fit-for-purpose. Most tech companies are not preventing offenders from using everyday apps like Facebook Messenger, FaceTime and WhatsApp to access and direct the live sexual abuse of children in their video call services - often in countries like the Philippines.”

The eSafety Commissioner’s transparency reporting regime has uncovered that most tech companies are still not detecting and disrupting live online child sexual exploitation and abuse despite years of warnings, world-leading industry regulations, and technology that already exists to do so all while preserving user privacy.[3]

 

“A robust Digital Duty of Care should hold all tech companies accountable for their platforms and smart devices by mandating that they proactively detect, disrupt and prevent child sexual exploitation and abuse on their products and services—all reasonably foreseeable harms," Mr Braga said.

"IJM has heard from survivors that preventing images and videos of child sexual abuse from being created and circulating online is essential to protect their privacy, which is today violated online with tech companies ignoring the privacy rights of victim-survivors of CSAM.

“The Australian Government has made significant progress in advancing online safety reforms, such as the recent age verification changes for social media platforms. They can continue to lead the world by now protecting children from livestreamed sexual abuse."

A recent report by IJM and Childlight revealed 1 in 15 Australian men surveyed either webcammed sexually with a child or had a desire to do so.[4]

Almost half a million children in the Philippines were trafficked to produce new child sexual abuse materials for paying online customers in 2022 alone.[5]

 

Quotes attributed to John Tanagho, Executive Director, IJM Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children

"Child abuse material is like a virus: we can't only focus on those already infected—we must go upstream to stop the spread of child abuse images and videos through a digital vaccine.

"Never before has something been so illegal and yet so readily available and easy to commit online.

“That's why it's time for a paradigm shift centered on preventing the creation of child abuse material in the first place. Instead of mopping up the mess, let's turn off the tap!"

Quotes attributed to Sharon Pursey OBE.

“We are no longer dealing in the abstract. We have a proven technology that can block child abuse material on any smart device. And that does so without impacting user privacy or encryption.

“HarmBlock is embedded into operating systems of devices, by design. It therefore cannot be circumvented or removed. Once built into a device, it uses AI to detect illegal content in images, video and livestream and blocks it from being seen, shared or recorded. It maintains privacy and end-to-end encryption by running entirely on-device. When it detects child abuse material, it simply stops the image from being rendered to the screen, stored or transmitted.”

Quotes attributed to Philippine Survivor Network leader, Barbie.

 “Tech companies are turning a blind eye to children being repeatedly sexually abused live on their platforms, apps, and devices by their users for other users to watch in real time.

“A Digital Duty of Care in Australia’s Online Safety Act should ensure that tech companies must protect children on their platforms from online sexual exploitation on Australian screens.”

About International Justice Mission (IJM)

IJM partners with local authorities in 34 field offices in 20 countries to combat slavery, violence against women and children and police abuse of power. IJM’s mission is to protect people in poverty from violence by rescuing victims, bringing criminals to justice, restoring survivors to safety and strength, and helping local law enforcement build a safe future that lasts.

IJM is working in partnership with local authorities to protect six million children in the Philippines from online sexual exploitation by strengthening the local justice system and advocating for stronger online safety laws in demand-side countries that protect children online.

Media Contact: William Sparling | [email protected] | 0416 628 276