Source: Radio New Zealand
Chief censor Caroline Flora. Rebecca McMillan
A survey from the Classifications Office shows two thirds of New Zealanders have seen extreme and potentially illegal content online.
The report Online Exposure: Experiences of Extreme or Illegal Content in Aotearoa was based on a survey of 1000 New Zealanders aged 18 and over.
The Classifications Office said it was believed to be the first of its kind to ask adults directly about their experiences with extreme or illegal content online.
It also found 49 percent of the population believed encountering extreme content online was unavoidable and 78 percent thought the likelihood of seeing it was increasing over time.
Chief censor Caroline Flora told RNZ it was essential people online understood the law.
“A big part of releasing this research is to communicate with the public – thank you we recognise your experience and we all have a part to play.
“Reporting this content is really important and understanding your rights and responsibilities when it comes to content is really important as well.”
Flora said it was necessary to note people were not incriminating themselves to have extreme content if they were obtaining it to provide to authorities.
“What I would say is if you come across something online to report it to the platform and to online safety organisations and law enforcement.”
She said it was important people did not create objectionable content – particularly given new technologies such as AI generated content.
“If you create objectionable content, it will still be objectionable even if it is synthetic or fake and the penalties for creating content are very severe.”
Research done by the Classifications Office last year found that young people had similar experiences to the findings in the latest survey, Flora said.
“The findings make it clear that exposure to extreme or illegal content can happen to anyone, but it is significantly more common amongst younger people.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
