SYDNEY -Australia is giving the internet industry six months to come up with an enforceable code detailing how it will stop children seeing pornography and other inappropriate material online or face having a code imposed on it, a regulator said on Tuesday.
The code should set standards for how app stores, websites including pornography and dating websites, search engines, social media platforms, chat services and even multi-player gaming platforms check that content is suitable for users, the commissioner said. "But it can't all be on them. We also need industry to play their part by putting in some effective barriers," she added.
Measures covered by the code protecting children from pornogrpahy could include age verification, default parental controls and software which blurs or filters unwanted sexual content, the regulator said.A spokesperson for DIGI, an industry body which has most large internet companies as members and worked on the first round of codes, said it looked forward to continuing its engagement with government and the eSafety commissioner.