I mean when it comes down to it, how can the AUS gov enforce the fine?
Australia’s under 16 social media ban which started today isn’t going so well. This ban was never going to work and children are bypassing the checks fairly easily. I’ve personally heard of four 13-15 year olds that could reactivate Snapchat accounts simply by setting their date of birth so they are older than 16 and completing a facial scan age verification which “confirmed” they were old enough. I’ve also heard many reports of under 16s still on TikTok without even having to do anything to bypass the ban, and YouTube accounts that were flagged for suspension that are still active.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/social-media-ban-day-one-teen-access/106126706
Discussion
There are no fines for children or parents anyway if they find ways around the ban. The social media companies can be issued with fines if they don’t take “reasonable steps” to keep under 16s off their platforms but the wording of that is so vague that it will likely end up in a legal challenge when a fine is issued.
The fine is just an illusion so people think that it's gov again tech companies when in reality meta actually helped them write the law over a year ago.
Nobody under 25 uses Facebook and they want to turn Instagram into an over 18s site eventually.
WhatsApp and messager got exemptions.
Pornhub and Sportsbet and everything else harmful to children got exemptions.