Labor Set to Introduce Bolstered Social Media Laws Into Parliament
Labor will introduce legislation on Monday to bolster the powers of the online safety watchdog and double fines for social media companies in breach of Australia’s landmark social media ban.
Labor will introduce tough labor social media laws parliament to double penalties up to $99m for platforms breaching the under-16 ban. The rules give the eSafety commissioner online safety powers to probe big tech, countering weak australia social media ban fines.
Anthony Albanese said it was “clear that big tech are not doing enough to comply with the law”.
“And there are still too many children on social media,” the Prime Minister said.
Mr Albanese warned the evolving nature of technology meant future governments would have Read More : Social Networks, Online Video Outweigh Traditional Media in 2026 to stay “vigilant and prepared to make changes and continue to keep on top of this issue”. Communications Minister Anika Wells revealed she had met with a teenager who opened a social media account and “wasn’t even asked her age”.
“It is simply not good enough,” Ms Wells said.
“It is big tech, using classic big tech tactics, doing the bare minimum and thinking that they are above domestic law.
“My message to big tech is this: we are not stopping.”
Last week, the government revealed platforms that breach Australia’s landmark social media ban would face up to $99m in fines – up from $49.5m – and there would be stronger powers for the online safety watchdog.
Ms Wells said the changes would empower the eSafety Commissioner to compel documents from tech platforms to prove they are making reasonable efforts to stop under-16s from creating or accessing accounts.
“The laws as they currently stand mean that the eSafety Commissioner asks these tech companies to provide information on a monthly basis,” she said.
“As you would imagine at the moment, because we believe that they are taking the mickey, there’s a lot of faff about that and essentially she (the commissioner) has to take them at their word.
“By requiring documents means that they require, like with a police investigation, minutes, emails, evidence between third party providers and the big tech companies … that forms a stronger body of evidence for a court case.”
A raft of the world’s most popular social media platforms – including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube – have been banned for under 16s in Australia since December 10.
The laws followed a sustained lobbying effort by News Corp Australia and its Let Them Be Kids campaign.
It follows eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant’s remarks earlier this month that she didn’t have “potent powers” to enforce the ban.
Ms Inman-Grant told Nine Newspapers the existing social media ban legislation was “very thin scaffolding”.
“What I would say is a regulator is only as good as the tools and the resources that they’re given,” she said.
University of Newcastle research found about 85 per cent of teenagers were still using social media three months into the ban.
More than half of these were using their own accounts.
The survey comprised 408 teenagers between 12 to 17 years old.
Source: www.geelongadvertiser.com.au
