Australia's eSafety Commissioner takes aim at Facebook over message encryption plan

Australia's eSafety Commissioner has taken aim at plans by Facebook to allow more encryption on the platform that would make online messages private and inaccessible to authorities.

Julie Inman Grant, the country's top internet safety guru, has warned against such a move by saying that further encryption could allow for predators and paedophiles to operate unhindered.

"If we let it continue on this trajectory, it will become a cesspool of darkness," she said.

"If you are providing a protective shield to predators and paedophiles, then you're allowing them to operate in darkness."

In a calendar year, Ms Grant said her office reported 8500 cases of child abuse online, including 25,000 videos.

She said children as young as six were being preyed on via the social media giant by paedophiles who posed as other children.

Ms Grant's warning comes ahead of a major conference tomorrow that will present the finding that online abuse around the world has risen by 80 percent and nine in 10 victims are under 13 years old.

The issue has also caught the attention of Prime Minister Scott Morrison as the government considers allowing authorities access to Facebook's facial recognition technology to identify victims and offenders.

"Making social media platforms and digital platforms safer for all Australians I think is a very important goal," Mr Morrison said.