Tech giants Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube investigated over social media ban breaches

Tech giants have been named and shamed, accused of not complying with Australia’s under-16s social media ban despite threats of a maximum penalty of $49.5m.

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are under investigation by the government’s online safety watchdog almost four months after the world-leading laws came into force.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant and Communications Minister Anika Wells are expected to provide an update on their enforcement action on Tuesday afternoon.

Ms Wells accused the companies of deploying tactics to undermine the laws.

“If eSafety finds these companies have systemically failed to uphold their legal obligations, I expect the Commissioner to throw the book at them,” Ms Wells said.

“The kind of tactics we’re seeing deployed by social media platforms to undermine Australia’s world-leading law are right out of the big tech playbook.

“All of the platforms covered by our social media minimum age requirement said they would respect the law.

“If these companies want to do business in Australia, they must obey Australian laws.”

The ban includes 10 platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, Reddit, YouTube, Kick and Twitch.

Under the laws, the onus is on platforms to comply with the legislation to “detect and deactivate or remove” accounts from existing underage users.

While apps like Discord and online gaming platform Roblox remain exempt, the eSafety Commissioner has released guidance for the apps and sought assurances they would enhance age checks and safety protocols.

Ms Inman Grant had flagged in her National Press Club address last year that apps would be subject to ongoing monitoring and assessment as many evolved beyond their initial function — often by adding new features like AI chatbots.

She has also meet with several AI platforms, including Anthropic, Open AI, Character AI and Gemini AI owner Google to assess what safety guardrails they have in place.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosted national leaders at an event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last year to spruik Australia’s efforts on the ban.

Several other nations have since begun exploring a similar law.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Australia’s world-leading ban on social media during her rare address to Federal Parliament last week.