News Investigation

Communications Department Offered to Pay 36 Months Lobby Group to Promote Teen Social Media Ban

Mar 2026 🇦🇺 Crikey PAYWALLED — LINKED, NOT HOSTED

This Crikey follow-up investigation reports that Australia's federal Communications Department invited 36 Months to bid for paid work promoting the very under-16 social media law the group had campaigned for, an approach the outlet describes as unusual. According to the report, 36 Months submitted a proposal but did not win the contract because its bid was judged too expensive. The piece revisits Crikey's earlier reporting on FINCH co-founder Rob Galluzzo's gambling-advertising client work and raises questions about government agencies directly engaging advocacy groups to market policies those groups already publicly champion. TechKids Foundation includes this reporting as documented follow-on scrutiny of the campaign's relationship with government after the law's passage, separate from any assessment of the underlying legislation.

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CITATION

Wilson, Cam. "Communications Department Offered to Pay 36 Months Lobby Group to Promote Teen Social Media Ban." Crikey, March 27, 2026. https://www.crikey.com.au/2026/03/27/36-months-teen-social-media-ban-albanese-government-anika-wells/

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