AU OSA BOSE Determination 2022, s 8 - Encrypted services: reasonable steps to detect and address unlawful or harmful materia…
Ensure child safety measures remain effective even where end-to-end encryption is deployed
Where this comes from
Provision: BOSE Determination 2022, s 8 - Encrypted services: reasonable steps to detect and address unlawful or harmful material, without weakening encryption
Instrument: Australia Online Safety Act 2021 - Basic Online Safety Expectations
Citation: Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022 (Cth), s 8(1)-(2); Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), ss 45(4), 49-50
Text version: Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), compilation of 12 September 2026 (includes the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 and Act No. 83 of 2026, whose title and commencement were not established from the retrieved text), and Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022, compilation of 31 May 2024 (includes the Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2024); both retrieved from legislation.gov.au on 2026-09-21.
Who it applies to
It applies when all of these are true:
- Service allows user-generated content
- Service enables direct messaging between users
- Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18
…unless:
- Subsection 8(1) does not require the provider to undertake steps that could (a) implement or build a systemic weakness, or a systemic vulnerability, into a form of encrypted service; (b) build a new decryption capability in relation to encrypted services;... (Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022 (Cth), s 8(2))
What engineering work it implies
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Reasonable steps to detect and remove child sexual exploitation material are maintained even on end-to-end encrypted surfaces
- Alternative safety measures (e.g., on-device detection, metadata analysis) are implemented where content scanning is not possible
- Encryption is not used as a justification for failing to take reasonable child-safety steps; the rationale is documented
- Detections, reports to authorities, and safety-measure effectiveness are logged for the eSafety Commissioner
- Unit tests cover the core logic (aim for >80% coverage on new code)
Questions people ask
- Does AU OSA BOSE Determination 2022, s 8 - Encrypted services: reasonable steps to… apply to my service?
- It applies when Service allows user-generated content; Service enables direct messaging between users; Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18. It does not apply where Subsection 8(1) does not require the provider to undertake steps that could (a) implement or build a systemic weakness, or a systemic vulnerability, into a form of encrypted service; (b) build a new decryption capability in relation to encrypted services;... (Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022 (Cth), s 8(2)).
- From when does this apply?
- AU OSA BOSE Determination 2022, s 8 - Encrypted services: reasonable steps to… applies from 23 January 2022. Its current status is: in force.
Find out whether this one lands on you
Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.
Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.