The Australian Government is putting more emphasis on shoring up its world-first social media ban for under-16 users. This urgent push comes after the eSafety Commissioner said that the existing legislative powers are just a bit too narrow, meaning they can’t really enforce the new restrictions properly against the tech giants.

Since December, social media platforms have, by law been required to stop young Australians from signing up or even accessing their services. If companies don’t follow through, they can get hit with huge penalties, up to $49.5 million, for not putting in place “reasonable” age-verification steps.

Even with those penalties in place, none fines have been issued yet. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also recently noted that lawmakers are reviewing the commissioner’s concerns to make sure unaccountable tech companies don’t sidestep the rules.

A new regulatory report showed that by mid-January, more than 4.7 million accounts tied to minors were removed or had their access restricted. Still, lots of tech-savvy children are finding workarounds, and sometimes they even manage to keep access going or start fresh profiles on apps like Instagram and TikTok.

Combating Algorithmic Harm and Enforcing a Digital Duty of Care

Beyond the minimum age rules, the government is looking at a broad “ digital duty of care ” type of idea. It basically means this new legal setup would push online platforms to anticipate and reduce foreseeable harms, not just remove dangerous material after the fact, you know.

A big part of this proposed duty is aimed at complicated algorithm design. Albanese mentioned that predictive recommendation systems can nudge both kids and adults into more and more extreme material, from hate speech, all the way to violent propaganda.

He also said Parliament needs to stay brave when it comes to digital harms, particularly where minors run into sexual violence online. So, in response, regulators are already leaning harder into emerging technology risks.

Recently, regulators managed enforcement action against three AI‑powered “ nudifying ” services. Those services are commonly used to create degrading, abusive images, and they have now been ordered to pull out of Australia until strict age verification and assurance steps are actually in place.