Fines alone won’t stop big tech behaving badly. Here’s what might work

HOBART (AUSTRALIA): (Mar 21) As countries around the world look to follow Australia’s lead and implement a social media ban for kids, many are also considering fines as an enforcement mechanism.

This is part of the playbook when it comes to regulating big tech. For example, last month, the United Kingdom’s data watchdog fined Reddit GBP 14 million (AUD 26 million) for unlawfully using children’s data.

In April 2025, the European Commission fined Apple and Meta EUR 500 million (AUD 820 million) and EUR 200 million (AUD 329 million) respectively for breaching the Digital Markets Act. And in September, the commission fined Google nearly EUR 3 billion (AUD 4.9 billion) for abusive practices in online advertising technology.