Australian regulator has demanded Meta Platforms Inc META, Apple Inc AAPL, Snap Inc SNAP, and Microsoft Corp MSFT share their strategies for stamping out child abuse material on their platforms.
What Happened: Australia's independent regulator for online safety, the e-Safety Commissioner, said it exercised the laws introduced by the government in January to compel the giants to disclose the measures to detect and remove child abuse material from their platforms.
If the companies do not disclose the measures they are taking — within 28 days — they would each face a fine of A$555,000 ($383,000) per day.
An email sent by Benzinga to Meta, Apple, and Microsoft seeking comment didn't elicit any response until the time of publishing this story.
"This activity is no longer confined to hidden corners of the dark web but is prevalent on the mainstream platforms we and our children use every day," said commissioner Julie Inman Grant in a statement.
"As more companies move towards encrypted messaging services and deploy features like live streaming, the fear is that this horrific material will spread unchecked on these platforms," she added.
This comes amid Australia's hardline approach to regulating big tech firms since 2021. Earlier this month, the country's competition watchdog said the federal court ordered Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google to pay AU$60 million ($42.7 million) in penalties for misleading users.
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