MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s internet safety regulator announced Tuesday it may pursue legal action against major social media companies, claiming Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube have failed to adequately enforce the nation’s groundbreaking ban on users under 16.
Legal experts suggest Australian courts will ultimately determine what constitutes reasonable enforcement measures under the legislation that became effective December 10, which requires platforms to block minors from creating accounts.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant issued her initial enforcement assessment Tuesday following the law’s implementation, which mandated 10 social media services eliminate all Australian account holders below age 16.
The assessment revealed that although 5 million Australian accounts were shut down, significant numbers of children continue maintaining existing accounts, establishing new profiles, and circumventing the platforms’ age verification procedures.
Inman Grant stated her agency holds “significant concerns about the compliance” of five out of the 10 platforms examined. Her department is compiling evidence showing these companies failed to implement “reasonable steps” to block underage account creation.
Judicial authorities could impose penalties reaching 49.5 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for widespread compliance violations. The eSafety office plans to determine whether to pursue litigation against any platform by mid-2025.
Social media services not facing investigation include Reddit, X, Kick, Threads and Twitch.
Communications Minister Anika Wells accused the five targeted platforms of intentionally avoiding compliance with Australian regulations.
“Social media platforms are choosing to do the absolute bare minimum because they want these laws to fail,” Wells stated to news media.
“This is the world-leading law. We’re the first in the world to do it. Of course they don’t want these laws to work because they want that to be a chilling effect on the dozen countries that have come out since Dec. 10 to follow Australia’s step,” she continued.
The safety agency documented “poor practices” including platforms permitting endless attempts to bypass age verification systems and encouraging users to retry verification even after declaring themselves underage.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, told The Associated Press it remains dedicated to following Australia’s social media restrictions. “We’ve also been clear that accurately determining age online is a challenge for the whole industry,” the company stated.
Snap Inc. reported it has disabled 450,000 accounts under the new law and continues blocking additional accounts daily.
“Snapchat remains fully committed to implementing reasonable steps under the legislation and supporting its underlying goal of improving online safety for young Australians,” a Snap spokesperson said.
TikTok refused to provide comment Tuesday, while Alphabet Inc., YouTube and Google’s parent company, did not respond immediately to requests for statement.
Lisa Given, an information technology specialist at RMIT University in Melbourne, predicted courts will determine whether platforms have implemented “reasonable steps” to exclude minors.
“If a tech company has said: look, we put in age assurance, we’ve done all these steps. That’s reasonable. Even though the aged assurance technologies are flawed, whose fault is that? Should they be held accountable for a piece of technology that is not 100% and likely not going to be 100% foolproof any time soon?” Given explained.
“That’s really the crux of it: what the courts will deem reasonable,” she concluded.
