Online safety boss flags exit, notes power imbalance between big tech and regulator

Federal eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has suggested she might not stay in the role when her term ends at the beginning of 2027.

She made the comment in Brisbane on Wednesday morning, at a press conference announcing new grants to combat abuse facilitated through digital technology.

“I think 10 years is a long time,” Inman Grant told reporters.

“With this new digital duty of care and this new era coming about, I think it will be great to have new leadership.

“My focus now is to achieve as much as I can with the runway I have, and to make sure I leave the eSafety Commission team and office in the best-possible hands for the next leader.”

Inman Grant confirmed there was no plan to police AI chatbots through Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, but said the existing regulatory framework could be strengthened further by the Albanese government.

She commenced her first five-year term at the eSafety Commission at the start of 2017 – under then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull – and was reappointed in 2022.

Speaking alongside federal Labor ministers Tanya Plibersek and Anika Wells, Inman Grant said the international environment around tech regulation was becoming increasingly complex.

“It’s becoming geopolitical,” she said.

“The asymmetries between the power, wealth and stealth the technology companies have versus small regulators like ours in Australia is unbalanced, but that doesn’t mean we won’t take a swing.”

She said AI giants had shown they were not able or willing to regulate themselves.

The ministers and commissioner spoke about 12 projects that would be funded to tackle technology-facilitated abuse, primarily against women and children.

“We know a young man can be looking at soccer scores one minute, looking up car videos, and within 23 minutes, that young man is being fed misogynistic content online,” Plibersek said.

“Unfortunately, that is spilling over into real-world harms.”

The projects will have $3.5 million invested in them to equip women and girls with knowledge and skills to recognise, prevent and respond to tech-facilitated abuse.

Funding for projects aimed at creating positive online experiences for boys and young men was also confirmed.

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