Key facts
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticized a Senate delay on amendments to a child social media ban.
- The proposed amendments would grant the eSafety Commissioner greater power to demand documents and information from social media platforms.
- The conservative opposition and Greens party have referred the legislation to an eight-week Senate inquiry.
- The government aims to increase penalties for platforms failing to exclude children under 16, potentially doubling fines to AU$99 million.
- Reports indicate that a significant number of children remain on restricted platforms despite the ban.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has strongly criticized senators for delaying proposed amendments to the country's social media ban for children under 16. The government sought to enhance the powers of the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, to enforce the ban and compel platforms to provide documents and information. However, the conservative Liberal Party and the Greens party referred the draft legislation to an eight-week Senate inquiry, preventing its immediate passage. Albanese expressed concern that this delay would allow tech companies to destroy evidence that could be used against them. He argued that passing the amendments sooner would enable the commissioner to issue fines and demand information from third parties, including age assurance technology providers, to verify platform claims about excluding young users. The proposed changes also include doubling the maximum fine for non-compliant platforms to 99 million Australian dollars ($68 million). Greens Senator David Shoebridge questioned the necessity of doubling fines that have not yet been issued, while Opposition Senator Sarah Henderson argued the amendments should be more stringent, calling the current ban poorly designed and ineffective. The initial legislation, passed with broad support in 2024, gave 10 targeted platforms over a year to comply. Despite this, reports indicate that a significant majority of children remain on restricted platforms, prompting the eSafety Commissioner to consider legal action against some of the largest social media companies.