Cybersecurity, Online Content Regulation & Trust
IDPO News - June 2025
Need evidence for your digital policy work?
Whether you're drafting a policy submission, developing a research agenda or investigating digital harms for public reporting, access to credible, up-to-date evidence is essential. The International Digital Policy Observatory (IDPO) is here to help.
Our newly redesigned website now offers a cleaner interface, improved navigation, and enhanced search capabilities. You can browse by topic or build your own dataset using keywords—tailored to your focus, whether it's algorithmic accountability, AI governance, platform regulation, or online safety.
Designed for researchers, journalists, policymakers, and advocates alike, the IDPO is your go-to hub for clear, accessible, and trustworthy digital policy resources.
Visit the new site and start exploring today.
New datasets added!
We're pleased to announce the launch of a new Cybersecurity dataset, now freely accessible at the IDPO.
Cybersecurity includes a broad range of laws, policies and technical measures designed to protect digital systems and networks from attacks, unauthorised access and data breaches.
As threats to digital infrastructure become more sophisticated, governments and organisations around the world are responding with increasingly complex regulatory frameworks.
This new IDPO dataset is valuable for:
- Policymakers assessing national or international cyber readiness
- Journalists tracking regional responses to major cyber incidents
- Researchers and analysts examining trends in critical infrastructure protection, cybercrime legislation or data governance
The dataset offers fast, searchable access to global material including legislation, policy documents, academic publications, podcasts, and news reports. All records are downloadable in CSV format and linked directly to original sources.
We’ve also added a new Online Content Regulation dataset, broadening our coverage of digital governance worldwide.
Start exploring our new data now.
Professor Terry Flew on the Edelman Trust Barometer
Now in its 25th year, the Edelman Trust Barometer tracks global trust trends across government, media, business and civil society. This year’s report highlights Australia’s slide into “distrust territory,” amid rising fears, polarisation and a growing sense of grievance across multiple sectors.
In a new commentary for the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Professor Terry Flew examines what this year’s findings reveal about the state of Australian society.
Read 'A crisis of trust - what the Edelman Trust Barometer tells us about Australian society'.
Bridging regulatory boundaries: early reflections on the UK’s Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum
What happens when regulators start working together across sectors? Martin Kretschmer and Philip Schlesinger offer an independent assessment of the UK’s Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum—its aims, institutional dynamics and significance in the broader regulatory landscape.
Visit idpo.org.au to read their analysis now.
IDPO Briefings: Supporting informed digital policy and regulation in Australia
The IDPO continues to support policy development and regulatory insight through targeted briefings and stakeholder engagement. Over the past six months, the IDPO team has briefed the NSW Government Deputy Secretary and Government Chief Information and Digital Officer; The Hon Jacqui Munro MLC, Shadow assistant minister for Innovation, and Digital Government in NSW Parliament; and the Digital Platform Regulators Forum; and the Office of Australian Information Commissioner. These engagements help ensure digital policy is grounded in comparative insights and evidence.
More from the IDPO team
Dr Karen Lee, Senior Lecturer at the UTS Faculty of Law, shared legal insights on EU platform regulation during a recent seminar on the Digital Services Act. [Watch the recording here].
Catherine Page and Dr Justine Humphry presented their research at the Global Age Assurance Standards Summit in Amsterdam, contributing to international discussions on age-appropriate design and regulation.
Professor Terry Flew and Dr Rob Nicholls contributed to a workshop hosted by Reset Tech on behalf of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, exploring how children’s rights intersect with the Australian Privacy Principles.
On 6 May, Dr Rob Nicholls also facilitated a Law Society of NSW event featuring Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Findlay, focusing on the emerging legal challenges of neurotechnology in the workplace.
Michael David and Dr Sacha Molitorisz published a new article, "Promoting Rights and Accountability in the Regulation of Misinformation", in the Australian Journal of Human Rights (Vol. 30, Issue 2, pp. 251–278).
About the IDPO
The International Digital Policy Observatory enables best-practice regulation by making global digital policy developments freely accessible to researchers, regulators, journalists and civil society. This project is supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant in 2023.
