Inman Grant said in April she was considering court action against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, alleging they were not doing enough to keep young Australian children off their platforms.
These platforms, as well as X, Kick, Reddit, Threads and Twitch, face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (US$34 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts of young children.
Melbourne’s RMIT University expert on information sciences Lisa Given said the government’s proposed reform was a response to evidence that the ban was failing.
The evidence included eSafety’s own data released in March that showed seven in 10 underage children continued to hold accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok since December.
Given also pointed to a study published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday that found 85% of a group of Australian 12 to 17-year-olds were using restricted platforms.
“I do think it’s failing,” Given said. “Many kids in the media have reported that they also think that this is really a failed exercise.”
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported Inman Grant saying in an interview in early June: “I don’t have potent powers.”
“What I would say is a regulator is only as good as the tools and the resources that they’re given,” she is quoted as saying.
The Associated Press asked Inman Grant’s office on Friday to comment on the accuracy of that reporting, but her office did not immediately reply.
Given said Inman Grant faced a challenge in enforcing legislation that platforms were resisting.
“Either the eSafety Commissioner needs more powers or we’ve got to have some other approach to enforcement,” Given said.
Given expected the courts would need to decide what constituted “reasonable steps” required by the law to be taken to keep children off platforms.
Albanese said as part of increased efforts to enforce the social media ban, his government would proceed with digital duty of care legislation which would hold platforms accountable for foreseeable harms caused by content and algorithms.