CANBERRA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Social media platforms are failing to protect children and young adults from rising rates of sexual extortion, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Australian government's online safety watchdog.
The report from the office of the eSafety Commissioner said that more than 2,000 Australians made complaints about sexual extortion over the last six months of 2025, with men aged 18-24 most affected and younger teens being increasingly targeted.
Under Australian law, technology giants including Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are required to report to eSafety every six months on how they are tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse material on their platforms.
The commissioner said on Tuesday that it has identified "significant gaps" in how platforms are responding to sexual exploitation.
It said that there are gaps in the use of technologies such as language analysis tools that can identify coercion scripts used by sexual extortion offenders and that some platforms lack clear and accessible ways for users to report sexual extortion.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement that sexual extortion often targets young men, with offenders tricking victims into sharing intimate images before demanding money.
"We're deeply concerned about the devastating impacts of sexual extortion, which not only target vulnerable individuals but also have profound psychological and emotional consequences for victims and their families," Inman Grant said.
She said that her office, in several cases, has provided platforms with clear guidance on how to stem the abuse, but has not seen adequate responses.
A separate report published in 2025 by the eSafety Commissioner and Australian Institute of Criminology found that 11.3 percent of Australian adolescents aged 16-18 had experienced sexual extortion. ■