Parliamentary Library (Australia) | 23 Oct 2026

The Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 will introduce a digital duty of care for persons responsible for online services as well as strengthening the capacity to regulate online services, content and conduct. This bills digest sets out the bill’s purpose and structure, policy positions, stakeholder views, and key issues and provisions.

Provides a single web portal for finding brings together evidence-based research on children and digital technologies, with a focus on supporting informed policy. Based in Australia primary focus is on research from that area of the world including university and government reports. Extensive coverage of AI and social media

This report explores the views of South Australian young people on Australia's social media ban for under-16s. It examines how young people themselves have experienced the changes, including impacts on their wellbeing, relationships, sense of connection and daily lives. The report finds a nuanced picture rather than a clear story of the ban being positive or negative.

This report explores how children and young people aged 5 to 25 in Australia use digital technology and how it may affect their mental health and wellbeing. The overarching implication is the need to move beyond simplistic, isolated or single-factor approaches to understanding and intervening in digital technology and mental health. The report provides 19 recommendations.

21 Sep 2026 Karen Tindall, Bowen Fung, Hannah Bellier, Emily Evans, Alex Gyani Publisher BIT

https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un-information-integrity-issue-brief-03.pdf
Children and youth often bear the brunt of risks in today’s information ecosystem and will be most directly affected by the technologies reshaping them, according to this new issue brief launched on 10 August 2026 by the United Nations Department of Global Communications.
The paper, launched ahead of International Youth Day (12 August), applies the United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity to children’s rights and youth engagement. Strengthening Information Integrity: Issue Brief 3 urges governments, technology companies, advertisers, media and researchers to advance protection and participation together.
It follows the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ call last month, at the opening of the inaugural Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance, for an AI Child Safety Pledge covering any system a child can reach.

Estimates of children’s experiences and perceptions of safety online and in their daily lives, in England and Wales.

UNESCO has released this new research report shedding light on the growing influence, practices and challenges of digital content creators within South Africa’s evolving information ecosystem.
Conducted by the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) with the support of UNESCO’s Social Media 4 Peace” (SM4P) project, funded by the European Union, the study examines the motivations, Media and Information Literacy (MIL) competencies, ethical practices and challenges of digital content creators in South Africa. The research draws on a nationwide survey of 48 content creators and in-depth interviews with 11 creators.
The findings show that while mainstream news media remains an important source of information for South African content creators, creators are increasingly conducting their own research, drawing on personal experiences and consulting knowledgeable experts. This reflects the expanding role creators play in how information is produced, interpreted and shared with online audiences.

How digital technologies enable child sexual abuse

The report combines children’s testimonies with one of the largest bodies of available survey data to warn of a widespread trend of child sexual abuse and exploitation – both online and offline – enabled by technology.
The report estimates that over 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, 9 million were asked to engage in sexual conversations or share sexual images against their will, and 4 million children had sexual images of themselves shared without their consent. However, the true scale of the issue is likely far higher due to underreporting by children.

congressional research reports