The US Government’s plan to broadcast a firing squad execution is reckless and puts children at risk of serious psychological harm, highlighting the need for a strong and enforceable Digital Duty of Care.
(Editor’s Note The US Government’s plan to broadcast a firing squad execution is a very troubling decision. I would like to think that Government bodies like the Australian Classification Board will step in regards to this potential broadcast. I would also like to think that Parents will gain the courage to honestly discuss with their children why they shouldn’t watch what is essentially a snuff film.)
The Alannah & Madeline Foundation, which has supported children affected by violence and trauma for almost 30 years, condemned the live streaming decision and warned that Australian children would almost certainly encounter clips of this horrific violence on social media, video sharing and messaging platforms, without warning and without any choice. Alannah & Madeline Foundation CEO Sarah Davies AM said deliberately broadcasting a killing showed a complete disregard for the children who would inevitably see it.
“Through decades of working alongside children who have experienced violence, we know that witnessing it, even through a screen, can be deeply traumatic. Children who see graphic footage of a person being killed can experience fear, intrusive images, nightmares, anxiety, and a lasting sense that the world is unsafe. For children who have already lived through violence or loss, it can heighten their levels of anxiety, depression and withdrawal, and reopen wounds they have worked hard to heal. Witnessing or re-witnessing real-world violence can desensitise children to aggression and risk normalising violence as a response to conflict.” Ms Davies commented, “Children rarely go looking for this kind of material. It reaches them through autoplay, through algorithmic feeds and through group chats where a clip is passed around for shock value. The burden should not rest solely on children, parents, and schools to manage the risks of harmful content once it is circulating.”
Children have told the Foundation that violent content is already a regular part of their online lives. In consultations with more than 800 children and young people, they described feeds serving increasingly extreme material and reporting tools that appear to do little. As Federal Parliament considers the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 this week, Ms Davies said the planned livestream was a clear example of why the legislation must be strong. In its proposed form, the duty would require online services, as far as reasonably practicable, to protect children from harmful material and from harms associated with the design of their services.
“This is exactly the kind of foreseeable harm which the Digital Duty of Care seeks to prevent,” Ms Davies commented. “Platforms have the tools to stop this footage being recommended to children, autoplayed in their feeds or spread through their messages, and they should be using them now – not after the event has already happened. Right now, whether they take action is largely up to them. A strong, enforceable Digital Duty of Care would make protecting children a legal obligation, backed by a regulator with the resources and powers to impose meaningful penalties when companies fail. Children deserve digital environments that are safe by design, with protections that reduce the likelihood of being exposed to harmful and traumatic content. Parliamentarians have the opportunity and the responsibility to act on this now.”
The Foundation is urging parliamentarians to ensure the Bill delivers the strongest possible protections for children and that it covers messaging, gaming, search, app stores and AI-powered services alongside social media, so that harmful content cannot simply move to platforms with weaker protections.