Australia's government is preparing to sue Facebook, TikTok and other major social media platforms for allegedly failing to comply with the country's world-first ban on under-16s holding social media accounts. Communications Minister Anika Wells said in a Sydney interview on October 19 that she expects legal action to proceed against five platforms accused of letting underage users slip through weak age checks.
"She's now using those powers to prepare her case," Wells said of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, adding that the regulator is building a case to take the companies to the Federal Court.
What the government alleges
The eSafety Commissioner said in March that it was investigating Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube for potentially failing to adhere to the law, which requires platforms to take "reasonable steps" to stop under-16s from holding accounts — part of a bid to shield children from harmful online content.
An eSafety report in July found that most underage social media users were able to keep their accounts or create new ones, largely because the platforms lacked effective age-verification checks. That finding is expected to form the backbone of any court case.
The platforms in the crosshairs
The five platforms under investigation span the industry's biggest names: Facebook and Instagram (both owned by Meta Platforms), TikTok (owned by ByteDance), Snapchat (owned by Snap) and YouTube (owned by Google). Spokespersons for Meta and eSafety had no immediate comment, and representatives for Snap, TikTok and ByteDance, and Google did not immediately reply to emails seeking responses to the minister's comments.
Since the ban came into force in 2025, the government has doubled the maximum penalty for breaches to A$109.2 million (US$76 million) — a figure designed to get the attention of even the largest tech companies.
Why this fight matters
The government has also handed the eSafety Commissioner sharper teeth: the power to demand internal documents from social media companies and to summon current or former employees to answer questions. Wells said Inman Grant is now using those powers to gather the evidence needed for court.
Supporters of the ban argue it is a necessary shield, forcing platforms to take child safety seriously where self-regulation failed. Critics counter that age bans are blunt instruments — research cited in coverage of the dispute suggests bans alone do little for young people's mental health, and enforcement remains a cat-and-mouse game as teenagers find workarounds. The platforms themselves have long argued that policing age at scale is technically fraught and raises privacy concerns.
The bottom line
No lawsuit has been filed yet, and none of the companies has responded publicly to the minister's warning. But with the regulator armed with new investigative powers, a doubled maximum fine, and a July report documenting widespread non-compliance, Australia's showdown with Big Tech over its teen social media ban looks headed for the Federal Court — a test case the rest of the world will be watching.
Watch: ANC's "Market Edge" report on Australia's move to sue Facebook and TikTok in its child-safety push, covering the government's planned legal action over alleged breaches of the under-16 social media ban (October 20, 2026).
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
