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The commissioner of Australia’s online watchdog has defended a lack of fines against social media companies after the Albanese government’s under-16s ban, telling a Senate estimates hearing “we don’t have a fine-issuing button”.
eSafety has been probing compliance of 10 major social media platforms since the ban came into effect on December 10, 2026.
Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday “complex investigations” into compliance of the platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, was ongoing.
“In our March regulatory update, we indicated we were concerned about industry compliance. Since then, we have continued our investigations and have seen some improvements,” she said.
“However, we have not yet reached a final determination on whether platforms are taking reasonable steps, which is the highest standard we must prove under the legislation.
Ms Inman-Grant acknowledged there was “a strong interest in why fines have not yet been issued”.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a fine issuing button,” she said.
“Rather, systemic non-compliance needs to be proven in court with solid evidence and complex legal proceedings.”
Ms Inman-Grant said there had been “early indications of progress” among social media sites.
“By March, we reported there had been a 37 per cent reduction in the number of under-16s holding accounts, with parents consistently reporting much more constructive conversations with their children about online risks and social media use,” she said.
“Today, I can inform the committee that since our March compliance update and direct engagement with individual platforms, we have seen improvements and reversal of some of the poor implementation practices we identified.
“For instance, some platforms have recently taken steps to restrict or age verify accounts that had increased their stated age to 16 in the lead up to or shortly after December 10, to identify further underage users who still had accounts on their platform.”
Ms Inman-Grant said there had also been a reduction in administrative hurdles which “stifle” reports by parents, while other services had raised their age rating on app stores.
“Today, I can also update the committee that we have retained an external legal team to support our investigation and any subsequent enforcement action,” she said.
However, when asked by Liberal senator Sarah Henderson which platform had made changes, eSafety regulatory operations general manager heidi Snell said information received from platforms was under “statutory compulsory notices”.
“We have not yet finalised our assessment of the effectiveness of any of these measures that they’ve taken and whether that is compliance,” she said.
“So, because these investigations are ongoing, we would maintain that divulging the specific details about any individual platform would risk prejudicing the investigations and potential enforcement action.”
Earlier, Ms Inman-Grant said eSafety had concluded a three-year enforcement action against X Corp, formerly Twitter, for failing to comply with a transparency notice around child sexual abuse material.
“Ultimately, X Corp admitted liability and will pay a $650,000 penalty plus costs,” she said.
“This is one of the few successful actions brought against export by any regulator globally.
“Such outcomes are hard won, and they demonstrate that careful, methodical enforcement with a substantial evidence base is results.”
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