Albanese Slams Delay to Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban Enforcement

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused opposition lawmakers of undermining efforts to enforce the country's world-first social media ban for children under 16 , warning that delaying proposed legal amendments could allow technology companies to destroy evidence needed for regulatory investigations.

The criticism came after the opposition Liberal Party and the Australian Greens referred the government's proposed amendments to an eight-week Senate inquiry , delaying legislation designed to strengthen the powers of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant . Albanese argued the postponement would prevent regulators from immediately demanding internal documents from social media platforms, giving companies time to delete potentially incriminating records before they could be examined.

Australia's child social media ban, which took effect in December , prohibits children under 16 from holding accounts on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube . The government says the measure aims to reduce children's exposure to harmful online content, cyberbullying and addictive social media use. Under the proposed amendments, the eSafety Commissioner would gain authority to compel platforms and third-party age-verification providers to hand over documents and information about their efforts to prevent children from accessing restricted services.

The bill would also double the maximum penalty for platforms that fail to take reasonable steps to enforce the ban to A$99 million (US$68 million) . However, the legislation has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. The Greens questioned the need to increase penalties when existing fines have never been imposed, while the Liberal Party argued the current law was rushed, poorly implemented and ineffective, insisting the amendments should be stronger before being passed. The debate comes as government data suggests enforcement remains uneven. Although authorities initially reported that millions of children's accounts had been removed or restricted, the eSafety Commissioner later found that a majority of children who held accounts when the ban came into force continued to access major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

Communications Minister Anika Wells has also acknowledged that compliance by social media companies has shown little improvement, reinforcing the government's push for tougher enforcement powers as other countries closely watch Australia's pioneering approach to regulating children's access to social media.