The Australian government has recently opened public consultations on a set of basic online safety expectations (BOSE), which lay out a series of demands to social media platforms, internet providers, and technology companies that outline how online communities expect to be kept safe.
Aside from core expectations that include taking actions to deal with longstanding harms such as cyberbullying or young people accessing violent material, there are a number of other expectations, such as taking action against mob bullying behavior and products for children that have the highest privacy and safety settings set as default.
Further expectations include:
- Providers taking steps to prevent children from accessing adult or R18+ content.
- Digital services preventing harmful material from appearing on anonymous accounts.
- Providers taking steps against cyberbullying, non-consensual intimate images of a person, and promotion, incitement, or instruction in abhorrent violent conduct.
- Providers ensuring users have clear access to make reports or complaints about services.
The latest incentive follows a ruling earlier this year with the introduction of the Online Safety Bill. This gave sweeping new powers to the eSafety Commissioner that included forcing social media platforms to remove harmful content and revealing anonymous offenders so that they can be prosecuted.
This is a clear indication of how committed the Australian government is to working with social media platforms and big tech companies to address the issues surrounding online bullying. The BOSE consultation is a valuable opportunity for the public to let social media companies know how they expect to be protected and supported when problems arise.
Dan Raisbeck, Co-founder, The Cybersmile Foundation
Australia's eSafety Commissioner will also have the power to order big tech companies to report on how they are responding to these harms and issue fines of up to $555,000 if they don't respond.
We will always fight to protect all Australians, but especially children, from online harm and we expect big tech to step up and deliver on these expectations.
The Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister of Communications, Information Technology, and the Arts
With the growing problem of online bullying becoming a prevalent topic of discussion in Australia, these public consultations are a first step toward bringing about new regulations that could ultimately provide a positive outcome for big tech and internet users.