Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024
The Online Safety Amendment Act 2024 is an Australian act of parliament that prohibits minors under the age of 16 from holding an account on certain social media platforms. It is an amendment to the Online Safety Act 2021 and was passed by the Parliament of Australia on 29 November 2024.
It imposes monetary penalties on social media companies that fail to take reasonable steps to prevent minors under 16 that are located in Australia from having accounts on their services. The legislation allows the government to determine which social media platforms must ban age‑restricted users and proclaim a date for the commencement of the ban, with those provisions taking effect on 10 December 2025.
The act is being challenged in the High Court by the Digital Freedom Project.
Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Threads, Twitch, Kick, and YouTube were age‑restricted on 10 December 2025, with the possibility that more platforms may be added.
The legislation was introduced to parliament and passed during the term of the Albanese government.
Background
The ban on access to social media by young people by the federal government originated in an entreaty by the wife of the premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, to her husband. She requested that he read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and take action to address the impact of social media on the mental health of children. The couple have four young children, and, thinking of them, the premier thought that government should play a part in helping parents to regulate use of social media by their children at home. Malinauskas contacted former High Court chief justice Robert French, who agreed to look at the issue, and in September 2024 handed the premier a 267page proposal, which he dubbed a "Swiss Army knife" rather than a machete, to adjust to social media's "changing landscape and its complexity". The leaders of other states and territories gave their support to Malinauskas's idea, and he took the French report to National Cabinet to collaborate with chief ministers, premiers, and the prime minister.Community support swelled after stories of parents who had lost their children to suicide after being bullied on social media were published. Albanese himself was moved by a personal letter received from Kelly O'Brien, whose 12-year-old daughter Charlotte had taken her own life due to bullying at school. An event took place at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in September 2025 at which a mother spoke of her daughter's suicide as "death by bullying... enabled by social media". The speech won support from world leaders in Greece, Fiji, Tonga and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
In early September 2024, South Australia proposed legislation similar to the federal law now in place. The state-based version was intended to ban users under the age of 14, unlike the federal law, which bans those under16. The state-based law also proposed to require parental consent for 14 and 15‑year‑olds. Later in September, prime minister Anthony Albanese announced that his government intended to introduce legislation to set a minimum age requirement for social media.
In November 2024, the federal government indicated their intention to engage the Age Check Certification Scheme following a tender process for an age assurance technology trial. The Albanese government's proposed ban was supported by the governments of every state and territory. Albanese described social media as a "", and said "I want people to spend more time on the footy field or the netball court than they're spending on their phones", that family members are "worried sick about the safety of our kids online", and that social media "is having a negative impact on young people's mental health and on anxiety". Albanese's statements followed an earlier pledge by Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton to implement a ban on social media for under16s within 100days of being elected.
The opposition organised an open letter signed by 140 experts who specialise in child welfare and technology. The opposition was concerned about the invasion of privacy that will occur with the introduction of identification-based age checks. An advocacy group for digital companies in Australia called the plans a "20th Century response to 21st Century challenges". A director of a mental health service voiced concerns, stating that "73% of young people across Australia who accessed mental health support did so through social media".
Implementation
Social media companies will receive a transition period of one year after the legislation is enacted to introduce reasonable controls preventing minors under the age of 16 from holding accounts on their services while physically located in Australia. Enforcement will involve fines of up to for companies failing to take such steps, with no consequences for parents and children who violate the restrictions. There are no parental consent exceptions to the ban, and while the use of virtual private networks to access these services remains legal in Australia, the services are expected to try to stop under16s from using VPNs to pretend to be outside Australia. The expectation is to make best-efforts to implement the ban on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Threads, Twitch, Kick and YouTube.Some social media companies are now obligated to become good enough at profiling Australian children under 16 to satisfy the Australian government they tried to implement the ban to avoid being fined. Consequently, social media companies said they will try to identify restricted users using various methods including behavioural inferencing. On 5 November 2025, it was announced that online gaming platform Roblox will not be banned, but Reddit and live-streaming platform Kick will be added to the list of platforms to be banned.
A report by Age Check Certification Scheme, a UK company recruited by the government to consult on the technology used to implement the restrictions, was issued in June 2025, ahead of the December deadline to implement the ban. In June 2025, the preliminary report was released, which stated that "there are no significant technological barriers" to implementing the ban.
In late July 2025, Google warned that it would sue the Australian government if YouTube was included in the ban. On 30 July, the government announced that it would extend its social media age limit to include YouTube, following advice from Grant.
On 30 July 2025, the minister for communications, Anika Wells, published the Online Safety Rules 2025, which specify exactly which types of social media platforms will be banned for certain users.
On 31 August 2025, the full report was released, which stated that it would technically be possible to implement the ban; however, coordination among different services is required to successfully implement it. It also highlighted the benefits and flaws of different methods of age verification.
On 16 September 2025, it was announced that the eSafety Commissioner will be able to take legal action against social media companies that have not pursued reasonable steps to bar users under the age of 16, and that fines can range up to against these companies in court.
On 19 November 2025, Meta announced that from 4 December their platforms would be removing users under the age of 16 ahead of the 10 December deadline. Users will be able to scan a face or provide an identity document to prove their age.
On 21 November 2025, the eSafety Commissioner announced that the live-streaming platform Twitch will be included in the ban, but that Pinterest would not be.
In December 2025, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant suggested efforts to block users include use by social media companies of various "signals" to identify children that are physically located in Australia and in the target age range, for the purpose of countering "location-based aged-based circumvention". Grant also commented that costs for suitable VPNs are "in the thousands of dollars" and therefore out of reach of most teenagers, despite VPNs being available for less than per month.
Platforms affected
Grant has stated that "there will not be a static list" of platforms that are age-restricted, due to changing services and technology., the following platforms are required to implement age restrictions:
- Kick
- Snapchat
- Threads
- TikTok
- Twitch
- YouTube
- Discord
- GitHub
- Google Classroom
- LEGO Play
- Messenger
- Roblox
- Steam
- YouTube Kids
Legislative history