Australia plans to double potential fines on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, that fail to stop Australian children from keeping accounts, with critics saying the world’s first ban on under-16s has been a failure.
Communications Minister Annika Wales on Monday blamed platforms’ resistance to age restrictions for the need to tighten laws that came into force on December 10.
“We can all agree that we would like the scheme to work better than it currently does, but this is about Big Tech getting the mickey,” Wells told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, using an Australian slang term for deception, harassment or ridicule.
The government announced on Sunday that it will introduce a bill to Parliament this week that would double the maximum fine to A$99 million ($68 million) for platforms that fail to take grounds steps to prevent Australian children from holding accounts.
A government statement said the amendments would also increase the powers of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant, Australia’s online safety watchdog, to demand information and documents to ensure platforms comply with Australian law.
The new powers will also include information from third parties, such as age assurance technology providers, to test claims made by platforms about how under-16s continue to circumvent the ban, the statement said.
Senior opposition MP Jane Hume said her party would consider voting in favor of the reforms, saying that “banning social media has not been successful” due to shortcomings in the laws.
“It is clear that the legislation was not well prepared in the first place. The e-safety commissioner has not been given the powers necessary to be able to go after these big tech companies,” Hume said.
Parliament passed the initial legislation with overwhelming support in 2024. The targeted platforms were given more than 12 months to plan implementation of the ban.
Several countries that have implemented or are planning similar restrictions have been closely monitoring the progress of the Australian ban.
The government initially reported that more than 5 million children had their accounts removed, deactivated or restricted after the ban became law.
But eSafety reported in March that seven in 10 children with accounts on platforms banned on December 10 remained on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
Inman Grant said in April that it was considering taking legal action against those platforms and YouTube, alleging that they did not take reasonable steps to exclude children.
She was satisfied with the progress made by the remaining banned platforms: X, Kick, Reddit, Threads, and Twitch.
Wells said she has received monthly updates from eSafety since March and “we’re not seeing improvements.”
“This (draft) ensures that the e-safety commissioner has the tools and powers she needs to hold platforms to account and we are making sure she can do that,” Wales said.