Australia takes aim at Apple, Microsoft over child protection online

An Australian regulator, after using new powers to make the tech giants share information about their methods, accused Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. of not doing enough to stop child exploitation content on their platforms.

The e-Safety Commissioner, an office set up to protect internet users, said that after sending legal demands for information to some of the world’s biggest internet firms, the responses showed Apple and Microsoft did not proactively screen for child abuse material in their storage services, iCloud and OneDrive.

The two firms also confirmed they did not use any technology to detect live-streaming of child sexual abuse on video services Skype and Microsoft Teams, which are owned by Microsoft, and FaceTime, which is owned by Apple, the commissioner said in a report published.