Sextortion attempts are on the rise in Australia, despite social media platforms being given the tools to detect it. Photo: File.
Tech giants are not properly addressing online sexual exploitation, according to the Federal Government, which says the platforms have no excuses.
The eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has released her latest transparency report, revealing significant gaps in how major online platforms are tackling sexual extortion (or sextortion) against Australian teenagers and young adults.
Under Australia’s new laws, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Snap and WhatsApp are required to report to eSafety every six months over a two-year period on their compliance with the Basic Online Safety Expectations.
Ms Inman Grant said their reporting shows big tech companies using inconsistent safety tools to control the growing concern.
Online criminals are exploiting “blind spots” in platforms’ detection efforts.
The largest group of sextortion victims are young males, with Inman Grant saying 50 per cent of sextortion reports to the Commission concern financial blackmail attempts targeting young men between 18 and 24.
But she added that boys as young as 15 are also being targeted. Across all ages, sextortion can inflict psychological damage on victims.
“Sextortion has reached catastrophic proportions, I’d say, with Australian boys and young men being brutally targeted by organised criminal networks every day,” the eSafety Commissioner said.
“These offenders are exploiting these very predictable weaknesses in platform design … Sometimes they [victims] feel like their life is over and one of the key tips we give them is to disclose, disclose, disclose.
“You won’t be surprised that it’s an underreported crime.”
Communications Minister Anika Wells has criticised the tech giants for allowing the “serious” detection gaps to continue, despite being given details of coercion scripts and images used in sextortion scams.
She said the online platforms are not taking the issue seriously enough.
“They have the tools, they have the resources, and yet they are choosing not to use them with full effect,” the minister said.
“My message for big tech is this – there are no excuses here, and big tech is required under Australian law to protect Australians online from illegal material or face fines of up to $54.6 million.”
More than 2000 complaints over sextortion were made to eSafety between 1 July and 31 December 2025.
The Commission’s report describes sextortion as a “particularly damaging form of online blackmail” where perpetrators share or threaten to share intimate material unless victims comply with demands.
“Responses from the companies show there are serious gaps in the use of available technologies like language analysis that can identify well-known coercion scripts used by sexual extortion offenders,” the report states.
“Gaps in reporting tools also persist across services like WhatsApp, iMessage, Discord and Google Messages, with some services lacking clear, accessible ways for users to report sexual extortion or child abuse or failing to provide dedicated reporting categories for these harms.
“The report also highlights the challenges of detecting harm in private messaging and video environments, where both sexual extortion and livestreamed sexual abuse often occur.
“Companies should ensure they are putting in place measures to prevent them from being misused by bad actors, as well as continuing to innovate new ways of countering these ongoing harms.”
Ms Inman Grant said the findings show the scale of the challenge and the urgency for platforms to act.
The release of the report comes as eSafety launched a new online safety awareness campaign last month aimed at informing young men about the dangers and tactics used in sexual extortion scams, what to do if they fall victim to them and where to find help and support.
“If you are the victim of sexual extortion, you should immediately stop contact with the blackmailer, collect evidence and report it to the platform on which it occurred – and don’t pay,” the Commission said in a statement.
“If intimate content is shared online, you can also report it to eSafety as we have removal powers for this content and a 98 per cent success rate in getting it down.
“If you are under 18, you can report to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE).
“Australians can also contact Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800) and Headspace for support.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
