Australia to create youth council to protect children online

The Australian Prime Minister has announced the plan of the government to create a 20 member Online Safety Youth Advisory Council composed of youth aged between 13-24 years,  who will provide input to industry and government about how to approach regulating online platforms. The council will be coordinated by the eSafety Commissioner who will begin the selection process for council members in January and aims to start conducting meetings around mid-2022.

The council  members will participate in different forums to examine online safety issues such as bullying, harassment, mental health, privacy, the impact of algorithms and issues of online sexual abuse and will report to government with recommendations for further action that can be taken by industry, government, and regulators like eSafety.