Australia doubles fines as children keep bypassing its under-16 social media ban
Australia said it will double the maximum penalty for social media companies that fail to keep under-16s off their platforms, raising fines from A$49.5 million to A$99 million (about $68 million). The government will also give the eSafety Commissioner stronger powers to compel documents and evidence from platforms, age-verification vendors, and app stores.
The move is an enforcement escalation rather than a new policy. Australia’s ban on under-16 social media accounts took effect on December 10, 2025 and was watched globally as a test case. Regulators say platforms have blocked more than five million under-16 accounts, but children continue to get around the rules using accounts registered to older people, fake profiles, and private browsers. The eSafety Commissioner is investigating possible breaches by Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
The tightening reflects the core difficulty of age-gating: enforcement depends on platforms demonstrating “reasonable steps” — through AI age estimation or ID checks — to exclude minors, while determined teenagers route around whatever controls are deployed. A British Medical Journal study cited in the reporting found “insufficient evidence” that youth social media use had dropped significantly since the ban began. “Big Tech are not doing enough to comply with the law,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.