Australia Reports 2,206 Sextortion Complaints; Instagram, WhatsApp Lead
eSafety said platforms are not consistently using available detection tools, while Instagram and WhatsApp accounted for more than 1,300 complaints.
- Between July and December 2025, Australia's online safety regulator eSafety received over 2,000 sexual extortion complaints, with Instagram and WhatsApp named in more than 1,300 of those reports combined.
- Young men aged 18 to 24 filed the largest share of complaints, accounting for 85 per cent of reports, as perpetrators use high-pressure tactics targeting victims for "quick financial gain."
- ESafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant accused major platforms of failing to address "blind spots" in detecting abuse, as most companies rely on reactive reporting rather than proactive language analysis tools.
- Criminals use a "kill chain" to initiate contact on public apps before migrating to encrypted channels like WhatsApp, exploiting inconsistent safeguards to escalate harm against victims.
- ESafety has launched an awareness campaign to inform young men about extortion tactics, while experts argue stronger legislation is needed to force platforms beyond reactive responses.
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29 Articles
From private messages to public threats: How Australia’s young men are being trapped online
SYDNEY, July 14 — Young men and boys are being targeted for sexual extortion on social media platforms, Australia’s online watchdog said today, finding “significant gaps” in how tech companies deal with the problem.Australia’s eSafety Commissioner received more than 2,200 complaints in the six months to December about sexual extortion, in which criminals trick victims into sharing intimate images before demanding money and threatening to expose …
Apple, Meta, Google and other platform operators would do too little against sexual child abuse and increasing blackmail on the Internet.
Young men report more ‘sextortion’ than any other age group, Australia’s online safety watchdog says
News summary produced by Claude AI Australia’s eSafety Commissioner released a transparency report examining how major technology platforms including Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Snap, Discord, and WhatsApp are handling child sexual exploitation and online sexual extortion. The report analyzed company responses regarding these issues over a six-month period. Between July and December 2025, the regulator received 2,206 complaints related to se…
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