Australia readies social media court action citing teen ban breaches

By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, March 31 (Reuters) - Australia threatened on Tuesday to sue social media giants for allegedly flouting a ban on under-16s, as its internet regulator disclosed it is investigating some of the biggest platforms for suspected non-compliance with the world-first measure.

Three months after the ban came into effect, the eSafety Commissioner said it was probing Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, Google’s YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok for possible breaches of the law.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said the government was gathering evidence "so that the eSafety Commissioner can go to the Federal Court and win".

"We have spent the summer building that evidence base of all the stories that no doubt you have all heard ... about how kids are getting around that," Wells told reporters in Canberra.