SYDNEY - Australia will strengthen its world-leading social media ban for under-16s by granting the country's online safety regulator stronger investigative powers and doubling the maximum penalty for noncompliance, the Australian government said Saturday.
In a media release the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that while he was heartened by the shift in conversation and the global momentum seen since the world-first ban came into force in December, it was clear technology companies are not doing enough to comply with the law, as too many children remain on social media.
"These changes reflect the seriousness with which we take any failure by social media companies to comply with our world-leading law," said Albanese.
The crackdown will see age-restricted platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat face a new maximum penalty of A$99 million ($68 million), up from A$49.5 million, if they are found to have failed to take reasonable steps to prevent those under the age of 16 from having accounts.
The country's eSafety Commissioner, responsible for enforcing the ban, will also gain stronger powers to demand information and documents from social media companies and third parties such as age-assurance or app-store providers to ensure compliance with the ban, the government said.
Australia became the first country to impose an age-based ban on social media when the laws took effect on Dec. 10, aimed at protecting children from the potential risks to mental and physical health posed by social media.
But while the government claims more than 5 million underage accounts have been removed, deactivated or restricted in the six months since it took effect, its effectiveness has been widely questioned, with recent research showing minimal impact on most children's social media use.
A study released Friday by the University of Newcastle found more than 85 percent of children under 16 continued to use social media after the ban took effect, either by retaining their accounts or finding workarounds such as using fake accounts or those belonging to friends or family.
So far the eSafety Commissioner has flagged five companies for potential non-compliance -- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube -- and is gathering evidence to inform potential enforcement action, the regulator said in March.
As other countries worldwide watch Australia's progress closely, several have moved ahead with their own legislation to impose age restrictions for social media use, with Indonesia enforcing a ban for children under 16 from March and France progressing laws to ban those under 15.
Other countries such as Britain, Denmark and Greece have also announced plans to introduce similar age-limits.
