Elon Musk's social network X has lodged a formal objection with an Australian senate committee, arguing that draft legislation intended to strengthen enforcement of the country's under-16 social media ban would give the national internet regulator disproportionate powers and risk running afoul of international legal principles.
The law in question, described as a world-first, prohibits accounts for users under 16 and came into force last December. It has prompted criticism from several social media companies, primarily those headquartered in the United States. X, whose parent company is Musk's just-listed SpaceX, framed its submission as a legal and procedural critique rather than a challenge to the policy goal.
In comments published on Tuesday, X took specific aim at proposed amendments that would expand the eSafety Commissioner’s authority to compel documents and evidence, and raise the cap on penalties from the current level to A$99 million - roughly $69 million at the conversion rate cited by the committee.
X said the measures would enable the regulator to "compel any person outside Australia ... to provide information and documents merely because they are 'affiliated' with a company," language the company characterized as being "in clear conflict" with international legal principles. The submission warned the amendment "raises potential for a severe impact on international comity," using the phrase to describe risks to mutual respect among national legal systems.
The company's filing argued the proposals did not adequately consider "procedural fairness, privacy, the broader impacts on online services, and Australia’s digital economy." X’s intervention adds a geopolitical dimension to the debate, given the platform’s high-profile ownership and international footprint.
The matter has already drawn attention in the United States. A U.S. congressional committee has requested that the eSafety Commissioner appear and accused her office of posing risks to American free speech. Separately, Musk previously posted on X that he viewed the Australian ban as a "backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians."
On enforcement, public data from eSafety and follow-up studies indicate that most Australian teenagers under 16 continue to have social media accounts despite the ban. eSafety has disclosed it is preparing a potential enforcement lawsuit against five platforms but said the regulator's limited coercive powers have hampered progress.
When speaking to the senate inquiry, eSafety representatives said their current constrained ability to compel documents left them reliant on "representations from providers about their own compliance." They also noted they lack authority to compel records from third-party age-verification providers engaged by platforms, a limitation the regulator described as creating "significant" barriers to investigations.
Industry voices have pushed back on the regulator's portrayal of its own limits. DIGI, an industry group that represents multiple platforms, told the inquiry that eSafety already holds broad enforcement powers that have not yet been fully tested and urged clearer delineation of the entities from which it may demand documents.
Major platforms addressed the practical challenges of excluding underage users. Google’s YouTube and TikTok stated in separate submissions that there is no known foolproof method to identify and block under-16 users definitively.
At present, Parliament has not enacted the bill that would expand the eSafety Commissioner’s powers. The senate committee overseeing the inquiry will issue its findings on August 25, following additional hearings. The submission and associated testimony underscore ongoing friction between national efforts to protect young people online and the operational, legal, and cross-border realities faced by large internet platforms.
($1=1.4397 Australian dollars)