Australia Government to double fines for breaches of under-16 social media ban

Canberra: The Australian government has announced that it will move to double the maximum fine for companies that fail to enforce the nation’s social media ban for children younger than 16.  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement on Saturday night that technology companies are not “doing enough” to comply with the under-16 social media ban, Xinhua news agency reported. He said that the government will introduce legislation to the federal parliament that will increase the maximum fine for social media companies that fail to prevent under-16s from using their platforms from 49.5 million Australian dollars (34.1 million USD) to 99 million AUD (68.3 million USD). “There are still too many children on social media,” Albanese said. “These changes reflect the seriousness with which we take any failure by social media companies to comply with our world-leading law. (IANS)

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