Australian govt to double fines for breaches of under-16 social media ban

The Australian government will move to double the maximum fine for social media companies that fail to enforce the country's landmark ban on users under the age of 16, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced, saying technology firms are still not doing enough to keep children off their platforms.

The government will introduce legislation in Parliament to increase the maximum penalty for non-compliant platforms from A$49.5 million (US$34.1 million) to A$99 million (US$68.3 million).

"There are still too many children on social media," Albanese said in a statement on Saturday.

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

The proposed amendments will also strengthen the powers of Australia's eSafety commissioner, enabling the regulator to compel technology companies to provide evidence of the measures they are taking to prevent children under 16 from accessing their services.

The government plans to pass the legislation before Parliament breaks for its annual winter recess later this week.

Australia's under-16 social media ban, the first of its kind in the world, came into effect in December 2025 and requires major platforms, including TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, to take reasonable steps to block underage users.

However, new research suggests the restrictions have had only a limited early impact.

A study led by the University of Newcastle and published in the British Medical Journal found that more than 85 per cent of children under 16 continued using restricted social media platforms three months after the law came into force.

The study tracked 408 adolescents aged 12 to 17 before and after the implementation of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024. Researchers found many young users continued accessing platforms through their own accounts or by using alternative and shared accounts.

Around two-thirds of participants reported encountering age-verification measures, most commonly self-declared age checks or photo-based verification, indicating that existing safeguards have not fully prevented underage access.

The findings have intensified pressure on technology companies to strengthen age-verification systems as Australia pushes ahead with stricter enforcement of its world-first online safety law.

With IANS inputs