A number of Australian children under 16 are expected to attempt to try to bypass the social media ban when it comes into force, but are there any consequences for doing so?

The world-first ban will increase age restrictions for Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit, X, YouTube, Twitch and Kick from December 10.

The eSafety Commission will oversee the enforcement and issue any penalties for non-compliance.

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Here is a breakdown of what is at stake if children under 16 access banned platforms. 

What are the penalties for children under 16?

The federal government acknowledges that the ban will not be "100 per cent effective" in preventing children under 16 from accessing restricted social media platforms and that they will find their ways around it.

"Some of that is going to happen, but that's what teenagers do," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.

The onus, however, lies on social media platforms and not children who bypass the rules.

There is no penalty for children under 16 who access restricted social media platforms, or their parents or guardians.

The eSafety Commission said the ban is about "protecting young people, not punishing or isolating them".

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What are the penalties for social media platforms?

Platforms face hefty penalties if they do not take "reasonable steps" to prevent children under 16 from having accounts. 

The eSafety Commission defines reasonable steps as enforcing the age restriction in a just and appropriate way, including finding and removing existing accounts, preventing new accounts and workarounds and having processes to correct errors if someone is mistakenly missed or included in the restriction.

If a platform fails to do so, a court can order civil penalties, including fines of up to $49.5 million.

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How will these penalties be enforced? 

The eSafety Commission will monitor and enforce any penalties for non-compliance in accordance with the law.

It may also pursue court action. 

"My powers don't come into effect until December 10, and that's when we'll start gathering information notices, we've been working on compliance plans, we've been engaging and telling companies," Inman Grant said.

"We've been talking to them for over a year, so this should be a surprise to none of them."

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You know that feeling when you read something online and it seems deliberately provocative, almost manufactured to create outrage? You may have just encountered "rage bait" – content deliberately designed to elicit anger in order to increase engagement.

And it has become so ubiquitous online that the Oxford Dictionary has named "rage bait" as its Word of the Year.

Use of the term has increased threefold this year, suggesting people know "they are being drawn ever more quickly into polarising debates and arguments as a response to social media algorithms and the addictive nature of outrage content" the UK-based dictionary said in a statement on Monday.

READ MORE: Shocking truth as companies forced to reveal ransoms they've paid

Almost every major dictionary has named a word that relates to the Internet as their 2025 word of the year, highlighting the technology's grip on daily life and the language we use to describe it.

Sometimes, rage bait can be relatively harmless – a recipe that contains disgusting food combinations or someone annoying their pet, partner or sibling. But it has also entered political discourse, with outrage used to boost politicians' profiles and provoke a chain of reaction and counter-reaction.

Collins Dictionary chose "vibe coding", a form of software development that uses artificial intelligence to turn natural language into computer code, and the Cambridge Dictionary settled on "parasocial" referencing the relationships people form online with someone they don't know, as their words of the year.

Last year Oxford chose "brain rot", which "captured the mental drain of endless scrolling", Oxford Languages president Casper Grathwohl said in a statement.

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"Together, they form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted," Grathwohl said.

"These words don't just define trends; they reveal how digital platforms are reshaping are thinking and behaviour."

Oxford Dictionary let the public choose its word of the year from a shortlist that also included "aura farming" and "biohack", posting parody videos on its Instagram to convey the spirit of each word.

Aura farming, "the cultivation of an impressive, attractive, or charismatic persona … by presenting oneself in a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique," was portrayed as a cardigan-wearing, tote bag-carrying man, "always one matcha away from finishing (an) experimental screenplay".

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https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRcD1hHChUv/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp

And biohack, "an attempt … to optimise one's … health, longevity or wellbeing by altering one's diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle, or by using other means such as drugs, supplements or technological devices," was visualised as someone hooked up to a green IV drip and wearing an LED face mask, who had taken "27 phytonutrient-dense plants" by 6.34am.

Rage bait, meanwhile, slopped milk and sugar everywhere while he made a cup of tea, before picking his toenails and pouring the milk over himself.

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Exclusive: A world-first scheme that forces companies to reveal if they have relented to cyber extortion has uncovered a shocking truth – a worrying number of Australian businesses are paying ransoms to foreign criminals.

And the Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has identified Russian crime gangs as a growing cyber ransom threat, as much as scammers based in China, Iran and North Korea.

With a view to understanding the extent of ransom payments, it has been mandatory since May 30 for businesses with annual turnovers of more than $3 million to tell the federal government if they pay a ransom.

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In that time, 66 businesses have come forward, although Burke believes there are likely others.

"We suspect we're still not getting everybody," Burke told 9News.

"This is a really good start, but we still work on the basis that some people are not yet reporting.

'It's not simply a legal obligation to report, it's also completely in their interests."

Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness says paying a ransom is never wise and only feeds the $25 billion-a-year cybercrime industry.

But she said the payment of a ransom is not illegal, because in "life and death scenarios" it may be considered the only option by some victims.

"There are a small number of scenarios where a system may be connected to a piece of equipment that might be supporting life and death, providing power, providing water," she said.

"So there are some unique circumstances where you could envisage that it could have significant impacts if it took you any longer to remediate those systems – so paying might bring you a little bit of speed."

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Melbourne lawyer Cameron Whittfield, who specialises in cyber security at HSF Kramer, said only a small minority of corporates targeted by ransom attacks pay up.

He estimated this as less than a third.

"Those that pay are probably more likely to pay if they've got an operational or asset integrity issue rather than a data issue, because the data has already left the building by the time that extortion demand arrives," Whittfield said.

"And so what you're paying for is something which is relatively intangible, which is basically a commitment from a threat actor to not disclose or delete that data.

"Now that can occur whether or not you're critical infrastructure or a hospital or electricity distribution or something similar, or it could be just an everyday business, a small, medium business, which just relies on continuity."

9News has been told that ransoms targeting bigger companies typically range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

McGuinness said paying ransoms "just feeds this cycle of criminality".

"We're dealing with criminals, so we can't trust that they're going to be honest," she said.

"We know they have data. They may give back a copy, but we've also seen criminals and other criminals then exploit further the data.

"Those who pay a ransom really illuminate themselves as a target, as being a payer, and so many of them are retargeted and have to pay again."

Burke said: "A lot of the reports we've had have been from Russian gangs, but no matter what country it's from, they've all got one thing in common: they're criminals, they're not trustworthy, and they're not going to act in people's interests."

Western Australia's police minister has said police are "incredibly concerned" that some of the serious fires burning in the state may have been deliberately lit, and are further worried by a number of people flying drones near the blazes.

At least one home has been lost to a large fire burning in Geraldton, which authorities suspect was deliberately lit.

It has already burnt through 160 hectares and is expanding significantly after it was reignited this morning by strong winds, having started on Friday.

READ MORE: Aussie city on the brink of scorchingly hot record

Firefighting crews have been brought up from Perth to assist, with four waterbombers, 55 vehicles and two Black Hawk helicopters currently battling the blaze, Police Minister Paul Papalia said.

He said there was an "incredibly confronting situation" this morning as 80km/h winds pushed the fire towards the Nazareth aged care facility, but it had been saved.

"An incredible effort went into stopping that fire," Papalia said, also praising the wider community's response to the emergency as "an example of what is best about the West Australian country community".

But the minister went on to slam the "appalling behaviour" of suspected arsonists behind the fire, saying detectives are already on the case.

There are no suspects as yet.

He said police were also very concerned that multiple people had been operating private drones in the vicinity of fire fields, impeding firefighting efforts and breaking the law.

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One home has been destroyed by the fire, while another has been damaged and five other buildings lost.

Hundreds of other homes remain under threat as hot, dry and windy conditions make fire behaviour unpredictable.

Emergency warnings issued earlier today have been downgraded, but residents in Bluff Point, Spalding, Sunset Beach and Moresby remain under a watch and act warning to monitor conditions.

The Northampton Recreation Centre and QEII Seniors and Community Centre are operating as evacuation centres.

Residents who evacuated Waggrakine and Moresby have been warned it is not safe to return home.

Fires have been burning in the region since the weekend.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a fire weather warning with extreme fire danger forecast for the Midwest Coast, including Geraldton, the Midwest Inland, Lesueur, Yarra Yarra and Swan Inland North.

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Thirteen central Auckland beaches are black flagged after sewage overflows.

Media organisations launched an appeal against heavy suppression around the case today.

SH1 between State Highway 16 and Davies Rd closed after the crash.

The men had been at a 60th birthday all night and Ralph Smith just wanted to get home.

A man from a high-profile family has vehemently denied he raped a woman as he gave evidence in his own trial.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, testified before a Victorian County Court jury today after pleading not guilty to two counts of rape.

It's alleged he digitally raped his friend's girlfriend at his Melbourne home in the early hours of January 14, 2024.

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The jury was told the woman had consensual sex with her boyfriend at the house but then he organised an Uber and left the property shortly before 2am.

It's alleged the accused then lied, telling the woman her boyfriend would be returning upstairs because his Uber had been cancelled.

Prosecutors allege it was the accused who went into the dark bedroom a short time later and pretended to be the woman's boyfriend.

He allegedly digitally raped her but she managed to move away and ask directly if he was the accused.

The man claimed he was her boyfriend and he allegedly then grabbed both her hands before digitally raping her again while she told him to stop.

She managed to get a hand free and felt his hair, which was longer than her boyfriend's, and that's when the man allegedly stopped and ran from the room.

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It's alleged he returned a few minutes later and acted as if nothing had happened, instead asking her if she was OK.

Under questioning from the prosecutor, the man repeatedly denied he ever raped the woman.

"I never went into that room and sexually assaulted (the complainant)," he said in his evidence.

The jury was told the man doctored an Uber receipt in the days after to make it look like the alleged victim's boyfriend had left the house after 2.30am.

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The accused admitted in evidence that he forged the receipt but denied he did so to avoid taking responsibility for his crimes.

The trial before Judge Gregory Lyon continues.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

An enraged husband who stabbed his wife to death after moving from New Zealand with their children has been found guilty of murder.

Rimoni Muliaga, 44, faced trial in Melbourne Supreme Court over the September 2023 stabbing of his wife Lise.

The 37-year-old mother of five was found with four stab wounds to her chest following an argument with her husband in a Melton South backyard.

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Muliaga stabbed her over a false belief she was cheating on him with his brother, after they and their children had moved in with him weeks earlier, the trial was told.

The couple and five children had relocated from New Zealand to Melbourne in July 2023.

Muliaga's legal team claimed he did not intend to murder his wife and his client's intellectual disability and depressive disorder had impacted his reasoning.

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Defence barrister Michael McGrath urged the jury to find him guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter rather than murder, as it was "the correct charge".

But prosecutor Patrick Bourke SC said he was "angry at his wife" due to his belief she was being unfaithful to him and that showed he intended to stab her four times.

Fourteen jurors were whittled down to 12 who deliberated for four days before finding Muliaga guilty of murder.

He will face a pre-sentence hearing in February.

National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).