Senior opposition lawmaker Jane Hume said her party would consider voting for the reforms, saying the “social media ban wasn’t working” because of deficient laws.
“The legislation was clearly undercooked in the first place. The eSafety Commissioner wasn’t given the powers to be able to pursue these Big Tech companies,” Hume said.
Parliament passed the initial legislation with overwhelming support in 2024. The targeted platforms were given more than 12 months to plan to implement the ban.
Many countries that have implemented or are planning similar restrictions have been closely watching the progress of Australia’s ban.
The government initially reported more than 5 million children had accounts removed, deactivated or restricted after the ban became law.
But eSafety reported in March that seven in 10 children who held accounts on restricted platforms on Dec 10 remained on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
Inman Grant said in April she was considering court action against those platforms and YouTube, alleging they were not taking reasonable steps to exclude children.
She had been satisfied with the progress made by the remaining restricted platforms: X, Kick, Reddit, Threads and Twitch.
Wells said she had received monthly updates from eSafety since March and “we are not seeing improvements.”
“These (draft) changes ensure that the eSafety Commissioner has the tools and powers she needs to hold platforms to account and we’re making sure that she can do just that,” Wells said.