Australian government doubles penalties for social media companies over under-16s ban

The Australian government has doubled down on enforcing of its social media bans for under-16s, increasing fines to $99 million for companies who fail to adequately restrict their platforms.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said she isn’t satisfied that tech companies are doing everything they can to keep teens off their platforms, six months after the world-leading laws came into place.

“Based on the regular updates I receive from the eSafety Commissioner, it is clear to me that social media platforms are adopting tricks straight out of the big tech playbook and doing the bare minimum to get by,” Wells said in a statement on Saturday night.

“In response, I am making sure the regulator has stronger tools to get the job done and doubling the fines for non-compliance.

“Social media platforms are some of the richest and most powerful companies in the world, and we’re serious about holding them to account.

“These tough new penalties and powers show we will not back down. Instead, we are doubling down on our efforts to hold big tech to account.”

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Those tough news laws include increasing the maximum penalty for systematic breaches by social media giants from $49.5 million to $99 million.

The Government will also strengthen the eSafety Commissioner’s information-gathering powers with new legislation.

The new laws will mean eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, as the independent regulator, can compel social media companies to provide evidence of what they have done to stop under-16s from getting an account.

These enhanced powers will give the Commissioner stronger enforcement and compliance tools and more powers to hold big tech accountable, the government said.

“Social media companies have a social responsibility, and they must uphold their legal responsibility in Australia to keep under 16s off social media,” the announcement said.

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“The changes will make it easier for eSafety to gather evidence by empowering the independent regulator to demand information and documents, to ensure companies are complying with Australian law.

“Importantly this includes information from third parties, such as age assurance or app-store providers, which may assist in validating or testing claims made by platforms.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said these changes were necessary to show big tech companies how serious the government is about these new laws.

“I’m 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 – there are still too many children on social media,” he said.

“These changes reflect the seriousness with which we take any failure by social media companies to comply with our world-leading law.”

Australia’s landmark social media ban for under-16s came into effect on December 10 last year.

The government estimates five million accounts have been removed, deactivated or restricted as a direct result of the sweeping changes.

However, eSafety is actively investigating five popular platforms - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube - over potential non-compliance.