eSafety commissioner was 'not really keen' on social media ban

The eSafety commissioner at the helm of the historic under-16s social media ban has revealed she was “not really keen on” the move.

Julie Inman Grant, who oversaw the implementation of the ban, told the Sydney Morning Herald that she believes the legislation was drafted “very quickly” and with a “very blunt approach”.

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“If you’re going to take on the biggest technology companies in the world … it’s not like you’re sticking a pink parking ticket on a windshield,” she said.

“What I would say is a regulator is only as good as the tools and the resources that they’re given.”

The comments come as new data puts the ban’s effectiveness into question, showing that about 70 per cent of under-16s who had Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube accounts still have access to them.

The world-first laws came into effect in December last year and put the onus on social media platforms to bar children under-16 from using their accounts or creating new ones.

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Grant is now investigating Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube for noncompliance with the new laws, however, no companies have been issued any fines.

The government has said that tech giants could face penalties of up to $50 million if they fail to comply with the ban designed to keep young Australians off social media.

Data from the eSafety Commission says that about 4.7 million accounts belonging to under-16s were removed, deactivated or restricted by mid-January, and an additional 310,000 were wiped by early March.