Australia is set to double down on its pioneering under-16 social media ban, with a major government announcement expected within days aimed at closing legal loopholes and empowering regulators.
With 16 other countries now looking to replicate the policy which came into effect in December, the federal government will tighten rules to ensure the restrictions hold up under legal scrutiny.
It follows several legal battles for Australia’s eSafety Commissioner — including disputes with tech giants like X — and looming cases in the High Court.
Anthony Albanese declared on Friday that while the legislation is already “world-leading,” he said Labor was looking to ensure restrictions were ironclad to safeguard against future cases.
It comes after a study published earlier this week revealed that 85 per cent of teenagers were using restricted social media platforms.
“What we’re looking at doing is any way that we can further strengthen the laws,” the Prime Minister told Nine on Friday.
“To make sure, as well, that if there are legal challenges, then they are strengthened, the opportunity of getting these laws upheld.
“And also make sure that we continue to hold these social media giants to account.”
On Friday, Australia’s eSafety Comissioner also announced at least three more AI‑powered “nudifying” services have withdrawn their services from Australia under pressure from their industry codes.
Commissioner Julie Inman Grant welcomed their withdrawal, insisting it would significantly reduce the risk of harm to Australians, particularly to children.
“These so-called ‘nudify’ services are not harmless tools and have absolutely no positive use case,” Ms Inman Grant said on Friday.
“They are increasingly being used to generate degrading and abusive content, including sexual exploitation material involving children as we’ve seen time and time again in our schools.”
While their landing pages might be visible, their content will be blurred and users will be unable to log in to use any features.
eSafety has, however, flagged that the three services have indicated to the regulator that they will only remain offline until appropriate age assurance measures are in place.
Mr Albanese’s hint that he will tinker with the current ban comes as the government prepares to introduce a wide-ranging “digital duty of care” by the end of the year to protect all internet users.
After Australia’s domestic spy agency ASIO this week warned of rising online radicalisation, the Prime Minister said new online regulations to crack down on dangerous algorithms were a “priority”.
He raised the upcoming changes in Parliament as a “complex” path and one that would need bipartisan “courage” but insisted the onus should on tech giants.
“We’re working on that as a priority,” he said.
“Algorithms drive people towards more and more extreme positions. These companies, which are unaccountable… and have extraordinary power.
He said internet users could start off clicking on mainstream issues to be influenced by “nazi level propaganda” and “calls for violence”.
During the domestic spy agency’s latest threat assessment, Director-General Mike Burgess said tech giants had a responsibility to help fight extremism.
“It’s something that many of us have actually pressed into,” Mr Burgess said.
“I’ve been on the record before talking about how young minds can go from like a couple of clicks to some really bad material that actually can radicalise them quickly.”
Mr Albanese also said it was not just violence but extreme porn was an increasing issue, with hospital admissions of strangulation and anal injuries “growing at an extraordinary, horrific rate”.
“What too many young men are seeing online is normalising behaviour — that is anything but normal,” he told Parliament.
“And we need to be really conscious as a society about this.”
eSafety had initially banned 10 platforms — YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, Reddit, and Kick.
Beyond the 10 apps eSafety identified to be included in the ban, a number of other companies admitted after self-assessments they too fall into the description.
It includes Bluesky, Yubo, Wizz, Lemon8, BigoLive, as well as dating services Tinder, Hinge, OKCupid, Plenty of Fish, Match.com and Azar.
The University of Newcastle study released this week — which surveyed 408 adolescents before and three months after the social media ban was introduced — found a majority of young people still could access platforms using their own accounts.
It comes after Australian Federal Police boss Krissy Barrett and law enforcement counterparts in Five Eyes gathered in London recently to discuss the issue.
The leaders made a united pledge to better protect children and vulnerable people from serious online crime.
The group agreed algorithms actively push harmful material to young people, which radicalises them and normalises dangerous or “abhorrent” views.
“Algorithms feed harmful content to children, radicalising and normalising abhorrent views in criminal echo chambers,” a read out from the meeting stated.
“Social media enables criminals to contact thousands of potential victims using nothing more sophisticated than a smart phone.”
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