Australia to double penalty for social media ban breaches to $99m as tech giants accused of ‘not doing enough’

Prime minister Anthony Albanese says too many children still on platforms but he is ‘heartened’ by world-leading law

• Social media bans go global: big tech faces a reckoning after Australia’s crackdown

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The federal government will double the penalty for breaches of Australia’s youth social media ban to $99m, arguing tech companies are “not doing enough” to keep children off harmful social media sites.

And the eSafety commissioner, now investigating potential breaches of the law by Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, will have its information-gathering powers strengthened under proposed further reforms.