Australia prepares legal action against major social media platforms

The Australian government is preparing to take legal action against five major social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube—for allegedly failing to enforce age restrictions. The eSafety Commissioner is investigating whether these companies have met their legal obligations to prevent users under the age of 16 from accessing their services.

In addition to potential lawsuits, new legislative proposals aim to increase platform accountability regarding harmful content and algorithmic feeds. Under these proposed rules, companies could face fines of up to 100 million Australian dollars for non-compliance. One key measure would allow users to disable automated recommendation algorithms, opting instead to see only content from accounts they explicitly follow.

These regulatory efforts follow reports indicating significant gaps in current age-verification methods, which have allowed many minors to maintain active accounts despite existing laws designed to protect children's mental health and online safety.