Australia to double fines on Big Tech as children bypass social media ban

The Australian government has announced plans to double maximum fines for social media companies that fail to enforce the nation's under-16 age restriction. This legislative shift increases potential penalties to 99 million Australian dollars as regulators investigate major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for systemic breaches. The move underscores a growing global trend of heightened regulatory scrutiny regarding Big Tech's responsibility for youth safety and age verification compliance.

The Australian government has announced it will double the maximum fines for social media companies failing to enforce the country’s under-16 ban, raising penalties from 49.5 million to 99 million Australian dollars ($31 million to $68 million). Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the move is a response to Big Tech platforms failing to do enough to comply with the law, which was enacted to curb children's access to social media. The eSafety Commissioner is currently investigating potential systemic breaches by major industry players, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

Communications Minister Anika Wells accused platforms of using tricks straight out of the Big Tech playbook to bypass the spirit of the legislation while doing the bare minimum for compliance. Although the government reports that over five million underage accounts have been blocked since the ban began on December 10, a study in the British Medical Journal found substantial circumvention of the rules. Children are reportedly evading the ban by creating fake profiles, using private browsers, or accessing accounts registered to older individuals, leading researchers to find insufficient evidence of a sharp decline in youth social media usage.

The proposed legislative changes will grant the eSafety Commissioner stronger powers to compel platforms, app stores, and age-verification firms to provide documents and evidence of their compliance efforts. To avoid the increased fines, companies must prove they are taking reasonable steps to exclude minors, such as implementing artificial intelligence for age estimation or requiring government ID. As Australia serves as a global test case for such restrictions, the outcome of these enforcement measures is being closely watched by regulators in the United Kingdom, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand.