Minister blames social media giants amid concerns ban ‘not working’
Cabinet minister Murray Watt rejected claims that the social media ban “doesn’t work” and said social media giants were responsible for young people getting around the social media ban.
The Albanian government claimed that 4.7 million accounts have been closed since the largest worldwide ban came into effect late last year.
However, subsequent reports and case studies have suggested that some young people under 16 are finding ways to bypass age verification measures put in place by platforms.
Senator Watt told Sky’s Sunday Agenda: “We’re still really proud of the fact that we’ve led the world with these reforms and we’re now seeing a number of other countries adopting them as well.”
“We’ve already seen nearly four million accounts disabled, but we have concerns that social media giants are not doing enough to comply with these laws.”
He said he understood that prosecution “is in the hands of the eSafety Commissioner” and that the online watchdog “will soon have more to say about this issue and its approaches to compliance.”
“But we have concerns that social media giants are still not doing enough to meet their legal obligations and we want them to take it very seriously,” Senator Watt said.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said it closed approximately 550,000 accounts.
Snapchat and TikTok reported closing 665,000 combined.
These figures have raised questions about the government’s claims that the ban has been successful.
Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said earlier this week that “it is clear that this policy has not delivered the results as promised.”
“Parents were reassured that this would be a practical and implementable measure, but what we are seeing is confusion for parents, uncertainty for the platforms and real questions about how this works in practice,” he told the Senate.
“We know this doesn’t work. We know this is a ban full of flaws. We know the implementation of the ban has been flawed from the beginning.
“But the government is not upfront about what works and what doesn’t.”
Echoing Senator Henderson on Sunday, Liberal Senate Leader Michaelia Cash called on the government to “be forthright with the Australian people”.
“Parents have a right to know why this isn’t working or what the government will do,” he told Sky.
“We all want to see this work. The government now needs to be frank with the Australian people, rather than praising the fact that they’re doing this.”
Meta has previously expressed concern about the legislation, claiming it has failed to “properly consider the evidence” and take industry action to ensure platforms are made suitable for under-16s.
