Australia will grant its online safety watchdog more powers and increase the maximum penalty for breaches of its world-first social media ban, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying big tech companies are not doing enough to comply.
Under proposed legislation, the maximum penalty for social media companies that fail to prevent children under 16 from holding social media accounts would rise to A$99 million ($68 million), the government said in a statement.
The legislation would also allow the eSafety Commissioner to compel social media companies to provide evidence of the steps they have taken to stop under-16s from obtaining accounts.
“It’s clear big tech are not doing enough to comply with the law — there are still too many children on social media,” Albanese said in the statement.
Read more: Australia’s Social Media Ban Meets a Wave of Teen Workarounds
