Australia threatened on Tuesday to sue social media giants

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.



Governments around the world are watching Australia's moves to rein in the tech giants, with many considering similar regulation to protect children from harms including bullying and body-shaming associated with social media.



The legal threat is a striking change of tone from a government which had hailed tech giants' shows of cooperation when the ban went live in December.