Australia doubled the maximum corporate penalty for tech firms that fail to enforce its under-16 social media ban on Saturday, raising the cap to A$99 million ($68 million) from A$49.5 million and handing its eSafety Commissioner the power to compel platforms to produce evidence of compliance. The country's internet regulator is investigating five companies for possible breaches: Meta's Instagram and Facebook, Google's YouTube, Snap's Snapchat and TikTok.
The escalation arrives six months after the December 10 ban took effect and as evidence mounts that platforms and minors alike are routing around it. A British Medical Journal study published Wednesday, surveying 408 adolescents, found 85 percent of Australians aged 12 to 15 were still using social media three months after the law took hold. Two-thirds of underage users stayed online by self-declaring an age over 16 or posting a selfie that the platform accepted.
What is new
Beyond the doubled fine, the updated law lets the eSafety Commissioner compel platforms to produce evidence of what they have done to keep under-16s from opening accounts, a power the regulator did not previously hold. The government said more than 5 million under-16 accounts have been deactivated or restricted since the ban began. Its own commission report found that seven of every 10 children under 16 who held an account before December 10 still had "some access" to social media.
Albanese and Wells
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement Saturday that he was "heartened by the shift in conversation and the global momentum we've seen since introducing the social media minimum age, but it's clear big tech are not doing enough to comply with the law." He added that "there are still too many children on social media." Communications Minister Anika Wells said "social media platforms are adopting tricks straight out of the big tech playbook and doing the bare minimum to get by." Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
The export market
The Australian framework is being studied abroad. U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced this month that Britain will impose its own under-16 ban by spring 2027, and the British proposal goes further, sweeping in gaming and live-streaming platforms and floating an overnight curfew and a ban on infinite scrolling for under-18s. Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand are weighing similar measures, the Guardian reported.
The counterpoint
Reddit is challenging the Australian law in the country's High Court on free-speech grounds, and the government has said it will defend against the lawsuit. The BMJ researchers, who surveyed the same children before the measure took effect and again three months later, described "substantial circumvention" and concluded there was "insufficient evidence" that the ban had sharply reduced social media use among young people — a finding that complicates the case for exporting the model before its first audit cycle is complete.
The eSafety Commissioner's open investigations into the five platforms are the next test. Any penalty issued under the doubled cap would be the first since the regime took effect.