Australia is to double fines for platforms that breach social media bans.

The Australian government has announced it will increase the maximum fine to $99m (£51.7m) for breaching the country’s social media minimum age law.

As part of the revised law, the Safety Commissioner will be able to compel social media companies to provide evidence of what steps they have taken to comply with the ban.

Children under the age of 16 have been banned from 10 key social media platforms in Australia from 10 December 2025, but it is widely accepted that many will still be able to access and use the banned applications.

An investigation into alleged non-compliance of five banned platforms Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok and YouTube has been opened.

Although Australia’s ban was introduced with great fanfare late last year, it has been difficult for the Australian government to implement.

In February The BBC visited the school in Sydney Most students who used social media before the ban still have access, he said.

The country’s independent watchdog, the eSafety Commission, said in its own report that seven out of 10 children under the age of 16 who had social media accounts before the ban still have some access.

In a statement on Saturday, the government acknowledged some of these challenges, and said harsher penalties were evidence that it was “doubling down on inadequate platforms”.

He added that the increased powers for the independent regulator, the Safety Commissioner, would support “more effective investigative and enforcement action”.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “I’m very pleased with the change in the conversation and the global resurgence we’ve seen since we introduced the minimum age for social media, but it’s clear that big tech isn’t doing enough to comply with the law.”

“There are still too many kids on social media,” he added.

Australia’s Communications Minister Annika Wells said she was “satisfied” that tech companies were doing “everything they could” to keep children off social media.

“It’s clear to me that social media platforms are using tactics straight out of the big tech playbook and trying their best to reach out,” she says.