[Australia] New eSafety Report Raises Child Safety Concerns for Image-Based Abuse

‘Sharing sexual images is a normalised aspect of dating for children and young people,’ concludes the eSafety Commissioner's (Australian Government Agency for Online Protection) Report. The full report focuses on the attitudes and motivations of individuals who engage in image-based abuse.

The report was released in September 2019, and it clearly highlights the importance of considering technology when taking measures in protecting children. Its messages are especially of interest for schools or other centres/organisations that work with children.  

The report found that IBA (image-based abuse) is occurring at increased rates. For example, one in ten Australians have committed IBA, and unfortunately, perpetrators often show little remorse.

According to the report, there are five types of image-based abuse: relationship-based, sharing images when the victim is identifiable, sharing when the victim is unidentifiable, image-based abuse for exploitation, and taking images of strangers.

For agencies working with children, the two types of IBA most important to focus on are sharing images where the victim is identifiable, and images used for exploitation. IBA where the victim is identifiable is particularly prevalent amongst young people, and is often done by males as a form of social status. The sexualized image is often shared with the perpetrator consensually, but then distributed further without consent. Like all forms of child abuse, exploitation is typically done as an opportunistic form of asserting power and dominance. Therefore CP agencies will need to ensure they have proper procedures in place to prevent this type of abuse.

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