‘Enforcement mode’: Australia must take fight to tech giants to make social media ban stick, experts warn | Social media ban

The government must go into “enforcement mode” and tackle tech giants over the social media ban after doubling penalties, experts have warned.

The federal government announced on Sunday that it would introduce new legislation that would double fines to platforms that violate the social media ban to $99 million and give stronger information-gathering powers to eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant.

Research this month found the majority of under-16s were bypassing age restrictions.

The government said more than 5 million accounts have been removed, disabled or restricted since the ban was imposed on December 10.

But Catherine Page Jeffery, a senior lecturer in media and communications at the University of Sydney, said it was clear the government needed to take further action against the platforms.

He said digital duty of care legislation would help protect all users from the harms of social media.

“It’s still early days, but not much has changed for under-16s, with around 80% saying they still stay on social media,” he said.

“Stronger enforcement mechanisms are clearly needed, but there is no point in doubling the penalty if the regulator does not enforce them and move into enforcement mode.”

Page Jeffery said the under-16 ban erodes young people’s online rights and that platforms should be held more accountable for the content they carry.

“This digital duty of care is really vital and I think it would be a much better policy rather than excluding young people, because then it would put an obligation on platforms to be more proactive in making sure their platforms are safe, and that would include more transparency around algorithms,” he said.

The government has promised to legislate a digital duty of care but is still consulting on what form this will take.

The Greens called on the government on Sunday to focus on this legislation and use it to regulate social media algorithms.

“When is this [social media ban] While the legislation was being debated, the Greens argued that we should regulate algorithms, not just symptoms. The two major parties chose not to do this,” said Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

“If the Prime Minister is really serious about belittling big tech companies, he has to deal with algorithms.”

Hanson-Young said her party would consider increasing penalties for non-compliance with the new legislation, but vowed to press for action on algorithms.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledged tech companies were not doing enough.

“We will strengthen the penalties. We will strengthen the powers of the eSafety commission, and that’s because we recognize that the future of our children, the safety of our children, is too important to allow big tech companies to get off the hook or to evade their responsibilities,” Chalmers told ABC’s Insiders programme.

Shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson said the new penalties were an “admission of failure” by the government.

“Today’s announcement is a shameful admission that Anika Wells’s oversight of her social media ban was flawed and chaotic, endangering children’s online safety,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute published a study revealing a direct risk between heavy social media use and poor mental health in young people; the most vulnerable were adolescents aged 12 to 13.

But he also warned that age-based restrictions alone were unlikely to eliminate all risks.

“This includes holding social media platforms accountable for algorithms and features that encourage forced interaction and exposure to harmful content. One way to achieve this is Australia’s proposed digital maintenance task Authors of the “reform” report It was insisted on speaking.

Experts welcomed the fact that the penalties were in line with other penalties under competition law, but questioned whether this would have the desired compliance effect.

Elizabeth Handsley, Western Sydney University law professor and head of Children and Media Australia, said giving the Inman Grant more powers was “worth a try”.

“It’s nice to think that this type of issue is treated as seriously as other types of corporate breaches that our laws deal with,” he told ABC radio.

“Whether or not it will be effective, you have to assume the government has done its homework and has reason to believe it will.”

Google, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as well as TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and YouTube, has been approached for comment.