NZ chief censor backs new call for child abuse crackdown

NZ Herald

2 Dec, 2020 04:00 PM3 mins to read

New Zealand's chief censor David Shanks is backing new recommendations urging major tech companies to go further in keeping child porn off their platforms. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand's chief censor is backing new recommendations urging major tech companies to go further in keeping child abuse material off their platforms.

A major report released overnight by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection found hard-to-locate menus and a lack of options were hindering people trying to get child sex abuse material taken down - including abuse survivors finding imagery of themselves online.

The damning evaluation comes just months after New Zealand - with Five Eyes partners Canada, Australia the US and UK - put out a set of voluntary priniciples to help online platforms better deal with the problem.

It found the benchmarks set out in those principles largely weren't being met.

Prompted by feedback from survivors, the study looked at what reporting measures were available on 15 major platforms - among them Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram Google, and adult sites like PornHub.

"As we reviewed each platform, we came to realise these companies nearly always provide users with a clear and formal process for reporting copyright infringement," said the centre's executive director.

"Yet, when it came to reporting images of children being sexually abused, the mechanisms in place were, for the most part, completely inadequate."

With the exception of Microsoft's Bing search engine, none of the platforms provided users with content reporting options specific to the material directly from posts, within direct messages, or when trying to report a user.

Rather, platforms had non-specific or ambiguous language in their reporting tools.

Figures by the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children show tech companies reported more than 69 million such images on their systems last year.

The Canadian centre's tipline, Cybertip.ca, has also had a dramatic 81 per cent increase in public reports of child exploitation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report made a raft of recommendations, such as creating reporting categories specific to child sexual abuse material and options in easy-to-locate reporting menus.

Companies should also ensure their reporting functions were consistent, and get rid of mandatory personal information fields in content reporting forms.

New Zealand's chief censor, David Shanks, supported the recommendations.

"It simply should not be so difficult for victims of abuse to having records of their abuse taken down," he said.

"Digital platforms should not create barriers for victims or people who wish to report this material."

Shanks said the Classification Office was regularly sent material by enforcement agencies so it could assess if they should be banned under New Zealand law.

"We may have to assess a single photograph, or extended videos of multiple rapes. There might be detailed written instructions on how to locate, groom and abuse children," he said.

"You don't need to bear witness to much of this kind of abuse to be convinced that it has to stop."