This Month
Fines loom for social media giants as kids give ban 100-day fail mark
A hundred days into the under-16 social media ban, the government is keeping quiet on numbers that would reveal how many children have carried on as normal.
R18+ video games still accessible to children despite age check rules
Distributors helped draft the rules but have so far not implemented age assurance for 18+ material.
Aussies turn to VPNs as Pornhub cuts nudity to protest new laws
Australians remain locked out of the world’s most popular pornographic website, but plenty of adult platforms are flouting new age verification laws.
Adult sites block Australian users ahead of age bans
Pornography websites have taken a blunt approach to comply with new laws requiring users to verify they are over 18 when accessing R-rated video games and websites.
February
Minister to grill Roblox over child grooming fears
The Minister for Communications has written to the leadership of the popular gaming platform Roblox following reports predators are exploiting the platform.
January
Schools opt for persuasion over strict enforcement of social media ban
The onus is on tech giants, not teachers, to prevent under-16s holding social media accounts, say school principals.
Two phones, fake birthdays and a month of evading the social media ban
Ahead of official data showing how many accounts have been deactivated under Labor’s new rules, teenagers are finding plenty of ways to return to the platforms.
December 2025
Inman Grant lifted the lid on big tech. She didn’t like what she found
As Australia’s world-first social media ban comes into effect, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant is feeling the pressure.
Anika Wells defends speech that cost taxpayers $14,500 a minute
Wells spent $34,426 on business-class flights for a three-day official trip in September to promote Australia’s under-16 social media age ban at the UN.
November 2025
Social media giants refuse to sign pledge for under-16s ban
The eSafety Commissioner sent tech platforms a voluntary template committing to follow the law. None of the major platforms have affirmed it.
Google and Bing want to know how old you are
The youth social media ban has made headlines, but an arguably bigger change to the way Australians use the internet comes into effect after Christmas.
September 2025
The 10 most culturally powerful people in Australia in 2025
What does it mean to be Australian in 2025? Here are the people shaping that definition.
Age assurance technology needed to protect teens from AI chatbots
Tech companies will have until March 2026 to comply with new eSafety codes, which are designed to stop children accessing harmful or inappropriate material.
June 2025
YouTube blasts eSafety Commissioner, says exemption should stay
The online video giant released a statement calling the eSafety Commissioner’s advice “contradictory” minutes before the commissioner took the stage for a speech.
March 2025
Google Gemini linked to AI-generated deepfake porn, terrorist content
Google’s users have reported its Gemini bot is being used to create deepfake child pornography as well as terrorist material.
February 2025
Telegram founder was arrested in France. Now Australia is after him
Pavel Durov, the founder of the app heralded by some free speech advocates, is on bail in France facing allegations it is rife with disturbing content. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is joining the fray with a $1 million fine.
October 2024
X wanted to avoid exploitation rules because it’s not Twitter any more
Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant has won the latest court battle against Elon Musk but faces more hurdles as the tech billionaire fights her attempts to regulate the internet.
July 2024
Big tech ordered to develop solutions to stop kids finding porn
The eSafety Commissioner has given internet companies six months to find a plan to stop kids stumbling across porn while searching for sites such as YouTube.
June 2024
eSafety drops case against Musk’s X over bishop stabbing video
The online safety watchdog has abandoned its court case against X after suffering a legal setback.
May 2024
Why age restrictions on social media ‘won’t happen overnight’
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner says it is difficult to judge the correct age to ban kids from social media.
