According to BBC, the Australian Government has announced that it will double the maximum fine for violations of the National Social Media Minimum Age Act to $99 million (approximately RMB 460 million).
As part of the updated legislation, the Cyber Security Commissioner will also have the power to compel social media companies to provide evidence of measures they have taken to comply with the ban.
Since 10 December 2025, Australia has banned the use of 10 major social media platforms for children under the age of 16, but it is widely recognized that many minors still have access to and use of prohibited applications. At present, investigations have been opened into five suspected offending platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
Despite the high-profile introduction of the ban in Australia at the end of last year, the Government has been facing difficulties in implementing it. The Australian National Independent Regulatory Authority ‘ s Electronic Security Committee indicated that 70 per cent of minors under the age of 16 who had social media accounts prior to the ban remained “with some degree of access ” .
In its statement on Saturday, the Australian Government acknowledged some of these challenges and stated that the harsher penalties proved that “the pressure on those platforms that did not do so was being redoubled”. The statement added that giving greater powers to the Commissioner for Electronic Security of the Independent Regulatory Authority would contribute to “more effective investigation and potential enforcement action”.
Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanis, stated: “I have been encouraged by the resulting shift in dialogue and global momentum since the introduction of the juvenile social media ban, but it is clear that large technology companies have not done enough to comply with the law.” He added: “There are still too many children using social media.”
Similar views were expressed by the Australian Minister of Communications, Annika Wells, who said that she was “unsatisfied” with what the technology company called “doing everything possible” to prevent children from using social media. It seems to me that social media platforms are clearly replicating the style of large technology companies, with minimal responses,” she said.
In the months following the social media ban in Australia, many other countries, including the United Kingdom, indicated that they would follow suit. In June 2026, British Prime Minister Keel Stammer announced that the United Kingdom would introduce a similar ban for children under 16 years of age, with a planned entry into force in spring 2027.
The full list of affected platforms has not yet been made public, but the Australian Government has indicated that it will cover those platforms that “promote social interaction and allow users to publish content”. The statement added that, as part of the legislation, measures were being considered to impose a curfew on young people under the age of 18 and to stop the endless rolling of views.