SYDNEY — Australia is giving the internet industry six months to come up with an enforceable code detailing how it will stop children seeing pornography and other inappropriate material online or face having a code imposed on it, a regulator said on July 2.

The eSafety Commissioner said it wrote to members of the online industry demanding a plan by Oct 3 setting out how they plan to protect minors from seeing high-impact material before they are ready, also including themes of suicide and eating disorders.

The code should set standards for how app stores, websites including pornography and dating websites, search engines, social media platforms, chat services and even multi-player gaming platforms check that content is suitable for users, the commissioner said.

The demand begins a second phase of industry codes overseen by the regulator, which previously endorsed codes covering how internet companies stop the spread of terrorism or child sexual exploitation content.

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