The Australian government has announced it will double the maximum penalty for breaches of the nation’s social media minimum age law to $99m (£51.7m).
As part of the updated legislation, the eSafety Commissioner will also be able to compel social media companies to provide evidence of what steps they have taken to comply with the ban.
Children under the age of 16 have been prevented from 10 key social media platforms in Australia since 10 December 2025, but it has been widely acknowledged that many are still able to access and use the banned apps.
Investigations have been opened into the alleged non-compliance of five banned platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
Though Australia’s ban was introduced late last year with great fanfare, it has been difficult for the Australian government to enforce.
In February, the BBC visited a school in Sydney where the majority of students who used social media before the ban said they still had access.
In its own report, the eSafety Commission, which is the nation’s independent regulator, said that seven out of 10 children aged under 16 who had a social media account before the ban still had “some access”.
In its statement on Saturday, the government acknowledged some of these challenges and said the harsher penalties were evidence that it was “doubling down on platforms that are not doing enough”.
It added that the increased powers for the eSafety Commissioner, which is an independent regulator, would support “more effective investigation and potential enforcement action”.
“I’m heartened by the shift in conversation and the global momentum we’ve seen since introducing the social media minimum age, but it’s clear big tech is not doing enough to comply with the law,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
He added, “There are still too many children on social media.”
The sentiment was echoed by Australia’s Minister for Communications, Anika Wells, who said she was “not satisfied” that tech companies are doing “everything they can” to keep children off social media.
“It is clear to me that social media platforms are adopting tricks straight out of the big tech playbook and doing the bare minimum to get by,” she said.
In the months after Australia introduced its social media ban, several other countries have indicated they will follow suit, including the UK.
In June 2026, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that the government would introduce a similar ban for children under 16, with plans for it to come into effect by spring 2027.
A complete list of affected platforms has not yet been released, but the government said it would cover those “whose purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material”.
It added that an overnight curfew and measures to stop infinite scrolling for under-18s were also being considered as part of the legislation.
