ESAFETY - Takedown requests, warnings and legal proceedings

Question

1. What is eSafety's total expenditure to date on court cases that it has lost? 2. How many informal takedown requests has eSafety made since 1 January 2024? 3. How many of those requests resulted in material being taken down? 4. How many formal requests has eSafety made since 1 January 2024 under: a. section 88? b. section 89? c. section 90? 5. For requests made under each of the aforementioned sections, how many requests resulted in material being taken down? 6. Why has eSafety become so reliant on informal takedown requests? 7. How many formal warnings under section 92 has eSafety issued since 1 January 2024? 8. Prior to the decision in eSafety Commissioner v Baumgarten, was it eSafety's understanding that the usage of informal powers was not reviewable by the ART, a court or another review body? 9. Subsequent to Baumgarten, does eSafety still view that understanding to be consistent with law? 10. Does eSafety believe its usage of informal powers in the manner considered in Baumgarten does not burden the freedom of political communication implied by the Constitution? 11. Is it correct that in 2024-25, eSafety issued 4 formal takedown notices for adult cyber abuse and more than 200 informal notices? 12. How does eSafety go about getting approval to initiate legal proceedings? Does it go to the minister? 13. Similarly, how does eSafety go about getting approval to appeal a legal decision? 14. Is a brief prepared for the minister or other authorising authority which assesses eSafety's likelihood of victory in the case? If not, why not? 15. Does eSafety have a specific dollar-figure budget for legal proceedings, or is it unlimited, subject to approval by the minister or other relevant authority? 16. Does eSafety believe that spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money to try to take down social media posts is in line with community expectations? 17. Has eSafety received any instruction from the minister or the department asking them to rein in spending on legal proceedings?

Answer

Please see the attached answer.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000686.pdf (opens in a new tab)