Australia Cracks Down on Social Media for Kids, Doubles Fines for Tech Giants
Australia Increases Penalties for Tech Firms Over Social Media Ban for Children
Australia has announced plans to double the maximum penalty it can impose on technology companies that fail to comply with a new social media ban for children. This move comes as evidence suggests that the existing measures have not significantly reduced teen usage of these platforms.
The government is also enhancing the powers of its internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, allowing it to compel social media companies to provide evidence of their efforts to prevent under-16s from creating accounts. Under the proposed changes, the maximum penalty for systematic failures to uphold the ban will increase from A$49.5 million to A$99 million ($68 million).
The eSafety Commissioner is currently investigating five platforms: Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, Google’s YouTube, Snap’s Snapchat, and TikTok. These companies have not yet responded to requests for comment regarding Australia’s plans outside regular business hours.
Australia’s six-month-old social media ban is being closely monitored by other countries that are considering similar measures due to concerns about the impact of social media on youth mental and physical health. In fact, Britain recently announced plans for restrictions that would extend beyond social media to include gaming and live-streaming platforms.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated in a statement, “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.”
The statement noted that since the ban was implemented, over 5 million under-16 accounts have been deactivated or restricted. However, several studies have shown that age-assurance mechanisms, such as taking a selfie, are easily bypassed by children. In many cases, children have never been asked to prove their age.
A recent study published in the British Medical Journal found that 85% of Australians aged 12 to 15 were still using social media three months after the ban took effect. Two-thirds of underage users remained online by self-declaring an age over 16 or posting a selfie that the platform accepted as over 16.
In April, an industry body representing tech suppliers attributed the challenges in enforcing the ban to weak implementation of available tools for age checks rather than limitations in the technology itself.
Minister for Communications Anika Wells said in a statement, “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.”
In addition to empowering the regulator to demand information from social media platforms, planned updates to the law will also allow it to gather information from third parties such as age-assurance or app store providers to assist in testing claims made by the platforms.
A spokesperson for the prime minister mentioned that the timing of when the amendments to the law would be introduced to parliament had not yet been decided, but the government would have more to say on the matter soon.
Separately, message board website Reddit is challenging the ban in Australia’s highest court, seeking to overturn it on free speech grounds. The government has stated it will defend the lawsuit.
($1 = 1.4499 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
