Changes to an under-16s social media ban, which would double fines for tech companies to $99 million and force them to hand over documents to the online safety watchdog have been put on hold for at least eight weeks after coalition senators sided with the Greens to block the bill.
The ban on under-16s using social media raced through parliament with bipartisan support in December 2024, but fierce debate has erupted over the proposals to tighten enforcement.
Communications Minister Wells relayed a reaction from Wayne Holdsworth, whose teenage son committed suicide after being sexually exploited through a social media platform, saying Opposition Leader Angus Taylor had "no compassion at all."
"The coalition sold out Australian kids ... giving them at least two more months to sharpen their legal strategy to get rid of documents," she told parliament.
"(They) have treated those parents with utter contempt."
But kids were still being harmed and hooked by algorithms even with the ban in place, opposition communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson told reporters.
She floated letting parents opt into agreements allowing tech companies to shield underage users from dangerous content.
"A social media ban won't stop harmful cyber bullying or life-threatening messages being sent to another child on their device," she said.
"We are not going to stand here and watch this government muck up this legislation again as it did two years ago."
She rejected Ms Wells' assertion delaying the legislation gave social media companies a chance to shred documents.
"I don't think there's a shredder in a Google or Yahoo or any other major company, they're all digital documents," she said.
Senator Henderson did not rule out regulating social media algorithms or moving against VPNs, which let users dodge Australian restrictions by tricking websites into thinking they are overseas.
She also flagged banning live streaming, which along with night-time curfews and limits to infinite scrolling has been proposed by the UK government, in the midst of legislating its own ban.
More than four in five Australians under-16 are still on social media, according to research by the British Medical Journal.
"There was a rushed process in passing the social media minimum age within two weeks, and we're now seeing more rushed legislation designed to improve it", social media advocacy group DIGI director Sunita Bose told AAP.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the law had to evolve along with an ever-changing technological landscape while introducing the reforms on Monday.
A Senate inquiry into the proposed beefed-up restrictions will hand down a report on August 25.
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