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(Bloomberg) — Australia\u2019s online safety regulator blasted major technology companies including Meta Platforms Inc., Apple Inc. and Google for failing to stamp out child sexual exploitation and abuse on their services, even after repeated calls to address shortfalls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Key failings include inadequate detection of live abuse during video calls and insufficient efforts to find newly-created material, Australia\u2019s eSafety Commissioner said Thursday. The regulator criticized a lack of language analysis tools to pick up sexual extortion of Australian kids, even after companies were provided with common online indicators. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt beggars belief that these have not yet been deployed,\u201d eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement. \u201cWe have been engaging with these companies for a long time on these issues. It\u2019s disappointing to see so little progress being made.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Google and Snap Inc., the owner of Snapchat, didn\u2019t immediately reply to emails seeking comments on the regulator\u2019s report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Global watchdogs are increasingly holding the world\u2019s largest tech companies responsible for abuse on their platforms. Inman Grant said it was a matter \u201ccorporate conscience and accountability.\u201d Australia late last year also enacted a world-first social media ban for under-16s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n