Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Amendment Determination 2024

The Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022 (BOSE Determination), made under section 45 the Online Safety Act 2021 (the Act), sets out the Australian Government's minimum safety expectations of online service providers for protecting their Australian users. The BOSE Determination is an important instrument for promoting transparency and sets a benchmark for online service providers to take responsibility for online safety. The BOSE Determination as currently in force, and associated explanatory statement, can be found at www.legislation.gov.au.

Since the BOSE Determination first commenced in January 2022 the online environment has continued to rapidly evolve, presenting new challenges—including developments related to generative artificial intelligence (AI).

To address these developments the Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP, has asked the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the department) to consult on proposed amendments to strengthen the BOSE Determination. These proposed amendments are designed to address emerging online safety issues and gaps in the original BOSE Determination, and to improve its overall operation.

The proposed amendments to the BOSE Determination set out in the draft Amendment Determination encompass new or amended expectations, and new reasonable steps online service providers could take in meeting expectations, to improve safety for end-users.

The proposals are grouped under the following themes:

• Generative AI, recommender systems and user controls
• The best interests of the child and restricting access to age-inappropriate materials online
• Safety impacts of business and resourcing decisions
• Online hate speech
• Transparency
• Enforcement of terms of use
• Other clarification and improvements to the BOSE Determination.

We are inviting service providers directly affected by the proposed changes, and any other interested stakeholders, to make submissions on the draft Amendment Determination. The department welcomes feedback on the proposed changes, including whether the changes achieve their intended outcome, whether the changes are feasible, and any implementation risks.

The draft Amendment Determination is available below. To guide your reading of the document and inform your feedback, we have also made available:

• a comprehensive consultation paper outlining the BOSE Determination and explaining the proposals in the Amendment Determination
• a shorter and simplified summary of the BOSE Determination and proposed amendments.

Relevant documentation

• Draft Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Amendment Determination 2023
• Consultation Paper on the draft Amendment Determination 2023
• Summary of the BOSE Determination and proposed amendments

Submissions on proposed reforms to the Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022 (BOSE Determination) closed on 16 February 2024. Submissions are published in full below (unless it was indicated at the time of submission that a submission was to remain in-confidence).

The public consultation has been an important opportunity for the Australian community and industry to have their say. The input has helped the government make decisions about amendments to the BOSE Determination.

The outcome of the consultation is the Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Amendment Determination 2024 which will amend the BOSE Determination. The amended determination was registered on 30 May 2024 and in effect from 31 May 2024.