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Australia: Online Safety – Statutory review issues paper and Pilot of Age Assurance Technology

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In brief

On 29 April 2024, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts opened public consultation as part of the ongoing independent statutory review (“Review“) of the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) (“Act“) with the release of an Issues Paper (“Issues Paper“). For more information about the Review other related developments in the Australian online safety roll-out, please view our previous alerts here and here.

The Review is extremely broad ranging.

Public consultation will close on 21 June 2024, with the final report of the Review expected to be provided to Government by 31 October 2024.

Online safety remains a key topic of public debate and regulatory focus in Australia. In addition to the Review, and other recent developments such as classification reform, anti-doxxing and hate speech proposals, the Government recently announced it would take additional steps to address online harms relating to misogyny and violence against women, including a pilot of age assurance technology to protect children’s access to pornography and other harmful content.

Key takeaways

  • The Review is very broad and will consider the operation and effectiveness of the Act, including possible increases in scope, penalties and enforcement powers.
  • A new statutory duty of care on providers of online services towards their users is being considered.
  • The review provides a significant opportunity for industry participants and other interested parties to share their views with regard to the operation of the Act to date, and the various other matters within the scope of the Terms of Reference.
  • In an effort to prevent violence against women and tackle misogyny, the Government has announced new measures to address online harms including approving a pilot of age assurance technology, and announcing the introduction of legislation specifically targeting deepfake pornography. This will occur in parallel with the Review, the development of Phase 2 Industry Codes and other recent developments around classification reform, anti-doxxing and hate speech proposals, some of which will now be fast-tracked.

Click here to access the full alert.

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Author

Adrian Lawrence is the head of the Firm's Asia Pacific Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group. He is a partner in the Sydney office of Baker McKenzie where he advises on media, intellectual property and information technology, providing advice in relation to major issues relating to the online and offline media interests. He is recognised as a leading Australian media and telecommunications lawyer.

Author

Andrew Stewart leads the Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Group in Australia and the Firm's Global Digital Media & Copyright Content practice Business Unit. He is also a member of the Firm's Asia Pacific Intellectual Property & Technology Steering Committee. Andrew has significant in-house experience in one of Australia's most successful television networks, giving him an insight into the media environment in Australia and is an advisory board member of the Melbourne University Centre for Media and Communications in the Law.

Author

Allison Manvell is a special counsel in the Technology, Communications and Commercial, and Media & Content, teams at Baker McKenzie. Allison works across Baker McKenzie's Sydney and Brisbane offices. Allison has more than ten years' experience advising on commercial and regulatory matters across a range of industries with a particular focus on digital media, technology, broadcasting and content licensing and regulation. Allison has also spent time on client secondment within the media industry. She is a member of the Communications and Media Law Association and she speaks and presents regularly on legal issues relevant to convergence and digital media.

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