Australia's eSafety Commissioner has named five major platforms -- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube -- for compliance concerns over the social media minimum age law.
The commissioner is continuing to gather evidence to inform potential enforcement action.
eSafety's first compliance report found that while some progress has been made, including large-scale account removals and more visible underage reporting pathways, major gaps remain.
Concerns include platforms prompting children to attempt age assurance despite declaring they were under 16, allowing repeated attempts at the same verification method to obtain a 16-plus outcome, failing to provide effective reporting pathways for underage accounts, and insufficient measures to prevent new under-16 accounts being created.
"While social media platforms have taken some initial action, I am concerned through our compliance monitoring that some may not be doing enough to comply with Australian law," said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.
"As a result, we are now moving into an enforcement stance."
Grant said enforcement requires sufficient evidence that a platform has not taken reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from having accounts, rather than simply showing some children still have accounts.
eSafety has enforcement powers including infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and civil penalties of up to $49.5 million.
"Durable, generational change takes time — but these platforms have the capability to comply today and we certainly expect companies operating in Australia to comply with our safety laws," Grant said.
“They can choose to do so or face escalating consequences, including profound reputational erosion with governments and consumers globally.”
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