Leading experts from across the country will meet in Adelaide today to tackle growing challenges around eSafety and image-based abuse (IBA), and its impact on survivors who are mainly women and girls.
The roundtable aims to build a shared understanding of IBA, highlight best practice responses, and drive collaboration in prevention and support strategies.
South Australia is a world leader in tackling technology-facilitated abuse having devised world leading national laws to ban social media use for those under 16 and supporting laws which passed just last week to combat the fast-emerging menace of invasive deepfakes.
Under the new laws, developed between the State Government and crossbencher Connie Bonaros, the use of artificial intelligence to generate wholly artificial, humiliating, degrading or invasive images, audio or video can attract fines of up to $40,000 or four years in jail for certain offences.
At the roundtable, national eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant will deliver a keynote address highlighting data trends observed through the eSafety IBA Complaints Scheme and how we are tackling online gender-based violence.
Representatives from education, mental health, the legal sector and police will attend in recognition that this form of sexual violence is a growing issue of public concern.
An umbrella term for non-consensual taking, sharing or threatening to share intimate images, IBA is one of the most insidious forms of modern sexual violence.
Once confined to the internet's fringes, it is now becoming more prevalent within the general community via rapidly advancing artificial intelligence technologies, including deepfakes and 'nudify' apps that can easily generate fake explicit images.
There will also be a focus on the experiences of communities at heightened risk, including young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, LGBTIQA+ individuals, people with disability and culturally diverse communities.
It will also examine the complex and gendered nature of sextortion, which affects both men and women, though often in different ways.
An accompanying issues paper will outline the national and local context of IBA, its legal implications, and the impact on victim-survivors, providing a foundation for ongoing collaboration and reform.
To further highlight the impacts of IBA, the State Government is rolling out a targeted education and awareness initiative across social media channels designed to shift community attitudes around sexual abuse.
As put by the Katrine Hildyard
Image-based abuse is one of the most insidious, fastest-evolving forms of sexual violence we face today, and we need to tackle it with a united response. That's what this roundtable is all about.
Behind every non-consensual image is a real person, who's had their dignity taken away. Every act of sexual violence and the spreading of misogyny and harmful attitudes toward women online cause harm and are utterly unacceptable.
Today, we're saying enough is enough and committing to do everything we can to help prevent technology being used as a weapon against girls and women and diverse communities.
Today's eSafety and Image-Based Abuse Roundtable sends a clear message that we will act when it comes to sexual violence in all its forms and wherever it is perpetrated.
As put by Michael Brown
We know there is enormous potential for AI to benefit South Australians, but with those opportunities come tremendous risk. That is why we must have laws and frameworks in place to tackle these risks.
This is an insidious use of technology that - in the wrong hands – can be used to generate vile, degrading images and media that have the ability to destroy someone's life.
With authorities estimating non-consensual pornography makes up as much as 95 per cent of all deepfakes, and women accounting for almost all victims of deepfake porn, it's essential we act.
As put by eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant
I want to extend my thanks to the South Australian Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Office for Women, for inviting me to be a part of this vital conversation about the challenges of weaponised technology and its impact on victim-survivors.
We recognise the need to work collaboratively with states and territories across Australia to address the important issues we are discussing at today's roundtable.
Deepfake image-based abuse is not only becoming more prevalent, but it's also very gendered and incredibly distressing to the victim-survivor.
There has been a shocking proliferation of AI nudify apps, which make it simple and cost-free for the perpetrator, while the cost to the target is lingering and incalculable devastation.
Our world-first mandatory standards place the onus on AI companies to do more to reduce the risk their platforms can be used to generate this highly damaging content.
eSafety is a safety net for all Australians impacted by online harms and abuse and I would encourage you to visit eSafety's website and for individuals and schools to report to us at eSafety.gov.au
