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One of the federal government's most senior female ministers has raised concerns about a "continued epidemic of sexual assault amongst teenagers" if changes aren't made to how children access online content.
Figures from an Australian study show nearly one in five young people aged 16 to 24 having been sexually assaulted by another person their own age.
Cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek told the ABC's AM program the figures for sexual assault were "exploding" and pointed the finger at how easy it was for children to access violent and sexual content online.
"These kids are getting their sex education from violent degrading pornography online," she said.
"Unless we begin to tackle it, now, we are going to see a continued epidemic of sexual assault amongst teenagers."
Children as young as ten are accessing porn, the minister said, and a recent Queensland University of Technology study found the average age children were first exposed to pornography was just 13 for boys, and 14 for girls.
Ms Plibersek accused social media of driving violence against women and girls, and raised concerns artificial intelligence (AI) also had the potential to make things "even worse".
"Kids are seeing pornography that includes choking and anal sex before they've had their first kiss," she said.
"If we don't get a handle on it, all of the good work of years of sexual assault and domestic violence advocates, governments, everybody who's been involved to try and reduce rates of violence against women, all of that good work is put at risk because of the algorithms, controlled by social media giants overseas, pushing this violent and degrading content onto our kids."
A problem for parents, government and social media giants
The minister and mother of three said allowing children to use social media was tricky to navigate as a parent.
"I think there's widely divergent views from parents about what's appropriate,' she said.
"When their kids are saying everybody else is allowed [to use social media] … I've been more inclined to cave [and allow them to use it] than I should have been at times."
She acknowledged it was a matter for governments to address but said society and social media giants also had a responsibility.
"We [the government] absolutely are prepared to take action, but we also as parents, as community leaders, as role models for our children need to tackle, What next?"
She raised concerns around the rise in AI and how that also had the potential to cause harm.
"AI … is able to generate the most convincing deepfake pornography that can be distributed to bully and harass kids," she said.
"If we don't get a handle on this now, it's going to escape in the same way as social media escaped into society, and we're dealing with the consequences."
Ms Plibersek will further outline her concerns in a speech on Thursday night and question why there aren't serious safety measures for online like there are for other dangers.
"We enrol our kids to swim when they can barely walk … we vaccinate, we teach our children the right way to blow their nose and wash their hands," she is expected to say.
"But when we give a child the use of an iPad or cave into their demands to get a phone or join social media – we do not have the equivalent guard rails."
A joint federal parliamentary inquiry has been established into age restrictions and social media, but that inquiry is yet to begin.
Additional funding has also been provided to Australia's eSafety commissioner, which helps Australians who have experienced online bullying or abuse.
Earlier this month, the federal government announced it would fund a trial of age assurance technology for social media and gaming. The technology aims to block children from accessing harmful content such as pornography.
The government is yet to provide details on who will run the pilot program and how long it will take to conduct the trial. Any actual change to protections remains a long way off.
Currently most social media apps require a person to be 13 to create an account but the approval is easy to circumvent.
In recent weeks, state premiers have backed calls to raise the limit to 16 years of age.
The New South Wales government has announced a social media summit for 2024 while South Australia is looking at how it could increase the minimum age to 14.