In an interview in Sydney on Monday, Wells said she expected legal action to proceed against the five platforms.
The government also granted eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant greater investigative powers, including the ability to demand documents from social media platforms and summon current or ex-employees to answer questions. “She’s now using those powers to prepare her case. Spokespersons for Meta and eSafety had no immediate comments. Representatives for Snapchat owner Snap Inc., TikTok and its owner ByteDance Ltd., and YouTube parent Google didn’t immediately reply to emails seeking responses to the minister’s comments. The eSafety Commissioner is an independent regulator, though part of the government and accountable to Australia’s parliament through the communications minister, a position currently held by Wells.
Since Australia’s world-first ban came into force almost a year ago, the government has doubled the maximum penalty for breaches to A109.2million(76 million). 15 speech to the National Press Club.
“Now she has more powers to be able to gather the evidence that she needs to take those five companies to the Federal Court,” Wells said. Last week Wells said companies aren’t doing enough to adhere to social media age restrictions. “The law is not failing — platforms are failing to comply with the law,” Wells said in an Oct. “We won’t flinch at holding tech companies to account.”
