The eSafety Commissioner is a government agency that addresses online risks and harm for children and adults. Its goal is to create a safer and more positive online experience for all Australians. If you encounter online issues or harmful content, you can make a complaint to the eSafety Commissioner.
What types of complaints can you make?
You can file complaints about serious online abuse, illegal content, or content shared without permission on the internet.
- Cyberbullying of people under 18: Complaints about content that seriously harms a person's physical or mental health if they are under 18.
- Adult cyber abuse: Complaints about content targeting an adult with intent to cause serious harm.
- Image-based abuse: Complaints about sharing or threatening to share nude or intimate photos or videos without consent.
- Illegal and restricted online content: Complaints about content involving child sexual abuse, terrorism, or extreme violence.
The eSafety Commissioner cannot deal with complaints about:
The eSafety Commissioner does not handle complaints about:
- Copyright infringement, spam, defamation, cybercrime, discriminatory content, privacy issues, or scams.
- Blackmail over intimate photos or videos unless the content is posted online.
- Adult cyber abuse targeting organisations or groups.
Jurisdiction:
The Commissioner operates under the law of the Commonwealth, and can act on complaints where the target or creator of abuse ordinarily lives in Australia.
Time Limitations:
No strict timeframe for lodging a complaint, except for cyberbullying that occurred under the age of 18.
Who can you make a complaint against?
You can make a complaint against:
- Individuals: Anyone who has used the internet for cyberbullying of people under 18, adult cyber abuse, or image-based abuse.
- Body/Organisation: Online platforms that have not removed harmful content after being reported.
Are you eligible to make a complaint?
Who can make a complaint?
Individuals or their authorised representatives can make complaints about cyberbullying, adult cyber abuse, and image-based abuse.
Before you lodge a complaint:
Report harmful content to the platform first for cyberbullying, adult cyber abuse, or image-based abuse involving blackmail.
The eSafety Commissioner will not deal with complaints about:
Complaints must be made by the person targeted, if they are the parent or guardian of a targeted child, or if they have been given authority by the target to make a complaint. You can’t lodge a complaint about something that has happened to someone else unless they have authorised you to do so.
What can this body do to help?
This body may help through:
- Removal of the harmful content: Informal or formal requests to remove content.
- Civil penalties and fines: For non-compliance with removal notices.
- Undertakings and injunctions: Court actions to enforce content removal.
- Apologise: The person responsible may be required to apologise.
- Public statements: Statements about platforms repeatedly hosting harmful content.
- Blocking of content: Requesting platforms to block access to illegal content.
How to prepare your complaint
Format:
All complaints must be made using the online form on the eSafety Commissioner's website.
Personal Details:
Full name, email, relevant username, suburb, and gender for non-anonymous complaints.
Respondent’s Details:
Username or information about the person targeting you.
Relevant Facts:
Details about the harmful content, including URLs, usernames, times, and dates.
What NOT to include:
Screenshots of underage sexual content or illegal content.
Additional information you need to know:
- If you wish to upload evidence that includes an intimate photo or video of yourself (and you are over 18), you can censor anything you don’t want the eSafety Commissioner to see before uploading it.
- For the eSafety Commissioner to be able to direct a person to remove harmful content that they posted, they may need to tell the person that you have made a complaint against them. The eSafety Commissioner will ask you if this is okay before doing so. The eSafety Commissioner does not need to reveal who made the complaint if they are directing an online platform to remove any harmful content.
- In cases of complaints about cyberbullying of a person under 18 where you are or may be in genuine danger, the eSafety Commissioner may contact your parents, guardian or school without your consent. In other situations, the eSafety Commissioner will usually ask for your permission before contacting your parent, guardian or school.
- The eSafety Commissioner must refer complaints to police and child protection authorities if the complaint is serious enough that they are legally required to do so.
Lodging your complaint and next steps:
Where to lodge your complaint:
You can lodge a complaint online using the form below:
- Online Form: eSafety Commissioner
Assessment:
- For complaints that are not made anonymously, the eSafety Commissioner will aim to respond to you within two business days.
- They will also notify you if they decide not to investigate your complaint.
- If you lodge an anonymous complaint, the eSafety Commissioner will not be able to let you know the status or outcome of your complaint.
Investigation:
- The eSafety Commissioner has powers to require online platforms to provide the contact details or other identifying information of a person who has posted harmful content.
- They may also summon people to meet with them in order to provide documents or answer questions about harmful content in order to investigate complaints.
- There is generally no specific time period for how long an investigation may take to be completed.
Removal of content – informal request:
In some circumstances, the eSafety Commissioner may make an informal request to a person or online platform to have the harmful content removed. This is usually faster than issuing a formal removal notice, but if the person or online platform doesn’t remove the harmful content then the eSafety Commissioner may issue a formal removal notice.
Removal of content – formal removal notice:
If the eSafety Commissioner decides to issue a formal removal notice, the person or platform that receives the notice generally has 24 hours to comply and remove the harmful content.
If the content is not removed:
- If the person or platform who receives a formal removal notice doesn’t remove the harmful content, the eSafety Commissioner may choose to:
- Issue a formal warning;
- Issue a fine;
- Take action to force the content to be removed;
- Ask the courts to prevent the content from being posted or shared;
- Ask the courts to issue a civil penalty.
Support service referral:
Whether or not the eSafety Commissioner requests the removal of the harmful material, if your complaint is about cyberbullying of a person under 18, adult cyber abuse or image-based abuse, the eSafety Commissioner will provide you with a referral to a support service to help you.
Additional information you need to know:
- You should try to provide the eSafety Commissioner with as much information and evidence as you can when you first make your complaint. This will help them decide whether they will investigate your complaint, and may help make the process faster.
- The eSafety Commission also provides specific resources for First Nations people found here.
More information:
Refer to the factsheet provided below for more information.
