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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Josh Taylor

Australia releases new online safety standards to tackle terror and child sexual abuse content

an iphone and laptop
The proposed standards require the operators of cloud or messaging services to detect and remove known child abuse material and pro-terror material ‘where technically feasible’. Photograph: Jirapatch Iamkate/Alamy

Australia’s online safety regulator appears to be heading off a potential battle with Apple over its encrypted messaging app iMessage, with the release of new standards that the regulator says will tackle terrorist content and child abuse material but won’t compromise end-to-end encryption.

In June, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, rejected two industry-designed regulatory codes because they didn’t require cloud storage services, email or encrypted messaging services to detect child abuse material. Instead, the regulator began working on mandatory standards, which were released in draft form on Monday.

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