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Julie Inman Grant

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12 June 2026, SUN EXTRA - Social media case study. Social media ban. Six months in, is it working? Lara is a high school student who was kicked off social media.  Photo: Ruby Alexander.

Australia banned under-16s from social media. The world is split on whether to follow

No platform has been fined and the rift between regulator and minister is in the open. How are our world-first social media laws faring?

  • David Swan and Bronte Gossling

Latest

Apple chief executive Tim Cook at the annual World Wide Developers Conference.

Apple credits Australia’s teen social media ban for its new controls

Apple chief executive Tim Cook told Anthony Albanese the iPhone maker’s new child-safety tools were “in part inspired” by the world-first social media ban.

  • David Swan
Julie Inman Grant at lunch.

‘I was not really keen on it’: eSafety commissioner tells us what she really thinks of the social media ban

Julie Inman Grant talks about death threats, the dark corners of the internet and making an enemy of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk.

  • Jacqueline Maley
Musk has previously levelled a slew of public insults at the regulator, labelling her an “unelected bureaucrat” and the “eSafety Commissar”, rhetoric that Inman Grant has said resulted in her receiving death threats and the doxxing of her children.

Musk’s X admits breaking Australian child safety law, fined $650,000

Elon Musk’s social media company, formerly known as Twitter, failed to comply with an order to detail its child exploitation safeguards.

  • David Swan

The May 16 edition

Can a porn ban fix what the internet broke? | The dark allure of ‘angertainment’ | How to kick down a door in real life | Rules for T-shirts in the office

Will Australia’s new online porn rules prove to be a watershed moment?

Elijah was 10 when his friend typed ‘porn’ into a search engine. He was afraid – but unable to look away

Australia now requires strict age verification for anyone wanting to access pornography websites. But will this really stop children from seeing online porn?

  • Cassandra Morgan
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Pornhub transformed its industry a decade ago but faces the rising threat of artificial intelligence.

The day porn turned off: Inside Australia’s high-stakes war with the adult industry

New laws have forced Pornhub off our screens. But the harder question – what it has already done to a generation of young men – is only just beginning to be asked.

  • David Swan
Apple and Google could be forced to pull porn apps, eSafety warns

Apple and Google could be forced to remove sexualised apps

The eSafety Commissioner won’t just chase offshore porn companies – she’ll go after the platforms that distribute apps that can expose children to sexually explicit content.

  • David Swan
Australians will be unable to access porn, R-rated video games and explicit AI chatbots unless they prove their age, under a landmark crackdown by the eSafety Commissioner.

Adults required to prove age to watch porn, video games in major crackdown

Australians will be unable to access porn, R-rated video games and explicit AI chatbots unless they prove their age, under a landmark crackdown by the eSafety Commissioner.

  • Emily Kowal

Ritalin use, sleep quality, NAPLAN: How Australia will know if the social media ban has worked

Medical and education records of thousands of children will be monitored for years in a study evaluating the success of the Albanese government’s signature policy.

  • Bronte Gossling