A popular roulette-style video chat app that matches strangers, including adults and children is the subject of eSafety’s first enforcement action under Australia’s Industry Codes and Standards.
The OmeTV app, through its parent company ‘Bad Kitty’s Dad, LDA’, has received a formal warning from eSafety for alleged breaches of the Relevant Electronic Services (RES) industry standard.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has also written to tech giants Apple and Google, which both have been hosting the OmeTV app on their app stores, to notify them of the enforcement action and to remind them of their own obligations under the App Store Code.
Australian law enforcement have raised concerns about the use of these types of services by child sexual abuse offenders to groom children.
OmeTV is the subject of the formal warning for failing to have required safety features and settings and allowing adults to have randomised video chats with children without sufficient protections.
“We know that this service is popular with children and for this reason it’s also popular with adults seeking to sexually prey on them,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“These are not fringe services. OmeTV is currently the 11th most popular social networking app on the Apple App Store and the 9th most popular free social app on the Google Play store.
“Stranger danger used to mean warning kids not to talk to people they didn’t know on the way home from school. Today, randomised video chat apps like OmeTV allow those same predatory strangers to anonymously manipulate, coerce and groom children through devices in the privacy of their bedrooms.
“Many Australians might ask why apps like this are freely available on the mainstream app stores, without appropriate restrictions or protections. This is why, as part of this action, I have also written to Apple and Google to highlight our enforcement action and to highlight the dangers of apps like this as well as reinforcing their own obligations under Australian law to protect children.
“The ultimate goal is to encourage individual services and the online industry as a whole, to lift their game and prioritise safety.”
The enforcement action comes as eSafety releases its latest online safety advisory warning of the dangers posed to children on these randomised video chat services.
These Codes and Standards are a key requirement set out in Australia’s Online Safety Act requiring all members of the online industry to tackle the worst-of-the-worst online content, including child sexual exploitation and abuse on their services.
The requirements apply to eight industry sections, including social media services, websites, search engines, app stores, internet service providers, device manufacturers, hosting services, and electronic services, including cloud-based file and photo storage, email, messaging, gaming and dating services.
There are a range of additional enforcement powers available to eSafety, including seeking civil penalties of up to $49.5m, which eSafety will use as required to ensure the safety of Australians.
The Commissioner will soon make a decision on whether to register six additional codes drafted and submitted by industry associations to protect children from age-inappropriate content, including pornography, high-impact violence and material relating to self-harm, suicide and disordered eating.
Three codes have recently already been registered covering search engines, enterprise hosting services and internet carriage services.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: 0439 519 684 or [email protected]
