THE Online Safety Commission (OSC) is currently handling more than 3000 cases involving the online sexual abuse of children in Fiji from last year alone.
OSC Commissioner Filipe Batiwale said the commission was seeing a growing number of cases involving children under the age of 18, including incidents where AI tools were being used to digitally remove clothing from images of minors as young as seven years old.
Speaking on The Lens@177, Mr Batiwale said the issue forms part of a broader challenge involving child sexual abuse material and intimate image abuse.
“Over the past 8 to 10 years, nearly 20,000 cases of child sexual abuse material had been referred to the commission by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children,” he said.
“And there has been increasing calls for the commission to take action on harms associated with artificial intelligence, but any response must be balanced with principles relating to freedom of expression and access to information.”
He said safety mechanisms should be built into digital platforms from the outset to prevent harmful tools and services from being made available to users.
According to Mr Batiwale, the ability to digitally alter images by removing clothing should not be available on platforms accessible to Fijians.
“We have an increasing case affecting those under 18, and these are being used as bullying tactics in school, where children are using AI to bully other children by removing their photos and circulating it.
“And this is a huge problem that the commission has.
“Because one, in terms of the complaint’s mechanism, like parents have to fill a form online on our website or come into our office, or we have to email them a form.”
Mr Batiwale said this process can force victims and their families to relive traumatic experiences while seeking assistance.
He said the trend was likely to continue unless changes were made to strengthen the legal framework and introduce additional safeguards to address emerging forms of online harm.
