The eSafety Commissioner's latest periodic transparency report[1] reveals big tech companies have made little progress in detecting live online child abuse in video calls, including in encrypted environments, in the first half of 2025.
eSafety found that tech companies did not apply tools across these widely used platforms or services to proactively detect live or new online child sexual exploitation and abuse:
- Meta – Facebook Messenger & WhatsApp
- Microsoft – Teams, OneDrive or Outlook
- Google – Meets, Chat, Messages, Gmail
- Apple, including Facetime
- Discord
- Snapchat
Unfortunately, Australia's demand for livestreamed child sexual abuse is chilling. A recent report published by IJM in partnership with Childlight East Asia & Pacific Hub reveals that of 1,939 Australian men surveyed, 6.5% of respondents have or would livestream child sexual abuse.[2]
IJM Australia CEO, David Braga, said, "More must be done to protect children around the world from Australian offenders. eSafety's latest report emphasises the urgent need for a robust digital duty of care that requires companies at every level of the tech stack to proactively detect and disrupt child sexual abuse material including in live video calls."
"Some improvements were made by companies in detecting known and new child sexual abuse images and videos, and some response times improved in taking down child abuse material following reports, which is welcome progress. However, large gaps remain that continue to enable offenders in Australia to utilise popular video calling platforms to access and direct the livestreamed abuse of children."
eSafety's first periodic notice report on child sexual exploitation and abuse revealed in August 2025 that Microsoft was piloting AI-powered detection tools for Teams designed to identify and prevent potential new child sexual exploitation and abuse from being created or transmitted on live video calls. Surprisingly, no further progress on this trial is reported in this latest report.
Philippine Network Survivor leader, Barbie, stated, "Traffickers exploit technology to abuse children, reaching across continents with ease. 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."
IJM Australia CEO, David Braga, said "The technology exists to stop this crime before it even happens. We're calling on the Albanese Government to continue its commitment to child safety and to prioritise introducing a digital duty of care, which it announced it will legislate back in November 2024. A robust digital duty of care will require technology companies to act to prevent this harm on their platforms."
