Australia’s world-first rules already require 10 major platforms including X to take reasonable steps to stop under-16s creating or holding accounts. After widespread workarounds by young users, the Communications Minister in June proposed amendments expanding the eSafety Commissioner’s reach.
Under these changes, the regulator could force platforms, third-party providers and age-assurance companies to hand over board minutes, emails and internal records. Those documents would be used to test whether platforms comply with the child account restrictions.
X Corp has pushed back in a formal submission to a Senate inquiry assessing the amendments. The company says the updated powers do not properly balance procedural fairness, privacy and broader effects on digital services.
Concerns extend beyond platform compliance to what X views as heavy-handed access to corporate decision-making records. The company also points to risks for Australia’s wider digital economy if regulators gain such intrusive oversight tools.
A central objection from X focuses on how far the new investigative powers might reach. The company argues the changes are broad enough to force “ordinary Australians” to surrender documents if they relate to enforcement of the child-account ban.
That possibility raises alarms inside the platform about user privacy and proportionality of regulation. The submission frames the debate as a test of how far Australia is prepared to go in policing children’s access to social media.
