‘Throw the book at them’: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube under pressure amid teen social media ban
The eSafety commissioner is set to issue a compliance update on social media companies following the Australian government’s ban on children under 16.
The independent regulator is expected to explain that young teenagers were allowed to repeatedly attempt age assurance until they passed the age limit, that not enough was done to prevent underage users whose accounts were disabled from immediately opening a new account, and that there were ineffective ways to report children.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are being investigated for possible incompatibility.
They can be penalized with fines of up to $49.5 million for systematic violations.
“The kinds of tactics we’re seeing employed by social media platforms to undermine Australia’s world-leading legislation are straight out of technology’s big playbook,” Communications Minister Anika Wells said.
“If eSafety finds that these companies are systematically failing to meet their legal obligations, I expect the commissioner to throw the book at them.
“All platforms covered by our minimum age requirement on social media have said they will comply with the law.
“If these companies want to do business in Australia, they have to comply with Australian laws.”
Under the legislation, social media platforms are required to take reasonable steps, including verifying the age of the user, to prevent people under the age of 16 from creating or maintaining accounts.
The world’s first ban was implemented following News Corp’s Let It Be Children campaign; This led to Australia becoming the first country in the world to raise the age of access.
Meta brands Instagram and Facebook, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube are the 10 sites covered by these restrictions.
The government claims that 4.7 million accounts have been closed since the ban was implemented in December.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, reported that it closed 550,000 accounts, while Snapchat and TikTok reported that they closed a total of 665,000 accounts.
