Social media age restrictions

It’s not a ban, it’s a delay to having accounts. 

This means there will be no penalties for under-16s who access an age-restricted social media platform, or for their parents or carers. However, age-restricted social media platforms may face penalties if they don’t take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from having accounts.

Details about how the age restrictions will operate and other information that will help Australians prepare for the change can be found at eSafety's social media age restrictions hub. 

Mandatory minimum age

Age-restricted social media platforms will have to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 years old from having accounts on their platforms.

New penalties

A court can order civil penalties for platforms that don’t take reasonable steps to prevent underage users from having accounts on their platforms. This includes court-imposed fines of up to 150,000 penalty units for corporations – currently equivalent to a total of $49.5 million AUD.

Key components

• Following advice from the eSafety Commissioner, the Minister for Communications has made legislative rules about platforms that are excluded from the age restrictions.
• The Minister may also make legislative rules specifying kinds of information that must not be collected (in addition to the information restrictions already set out in the Online Safety Act) – if so, the eSafety Commissioner and the Information Commissioner would make independent recommendations.
• The Minister has specified that the new law will take effect on 10 December 2025.
• eSafety may obtain information from service providers about compliance, and may enforce compliance.
• Within two years after the day the minimum age requirement takes effect, the Minister must initiate an independent review of the operation of the new law.

Regulatory guidance

eSafety published regulatory guidance to help platforms decide which methods are likely to be effective and comply with the Online Safety Act. The regulatory guidance draws on the Australian Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial as well as stakeholder consultations, including our ongoing engagement with social media platforms that are likely to be restricted.

Assessment guide

eSafety developed guidance for online service providers to assess if their service is an age-restricted social media platform. This assessment guidance takes into account the Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Rules 2025 (‘the Rules’) made by the Minister for Communications in July 2025.

Statement of Commitment to Children's Rights

eSafety developed a Statement of Commitment to Children's Rights, which sets out our approach to implementing the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act. It is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

eSafety is consulting widely on the best way to implement the social media age restrictions for under-16s.

We have met with industry, civil society organisations, academics and researchers, and the education sector (including eSafety’s National Online Safety Education Council and Trusted eSafety Providers). We have also spoken with children and young people directly, as well as parent and carer organisations.

We have consulted people with expertise in the following areas:

• the use of age assurance technologies and implementation considerations
• the possible impacts on users of age-restricted social media platforms, including in relation to protective factors that support and build resilience for young people and families, as well as possible impacts on privacy and digital rights
• possible circumvention or unintended consequences of the age restrictions and how to reduce these
• how to communicate effectively about the changes to the community, including to young people, parents, carers, educators and frontline workers.

Find out more about Social media age restrictions consultation.

In addition, eSafety is already working with the key platforms where we know Australian children are present in large numbers, and where there are features associated with risks to children. By working with platforms now, eSafety is taking steps to ensure they are getting ready for the social media age restrictions.

November 2024: The Social Media Minimum Age Bill was introduced to Parliament. A short public consultation was held (read eSafety’s submission) and the Bill passed. 

December 2024: The Bill received Royal Assent, becoming an Act. 

May 2025: eSafety called for members of the Australian community, experts and online service providers to express their interest in being consulted on implementation of the age restrictions, including the guidelines that age-restricted social media platforms will have to follow when the social media age restriction comes into effect. Find out more about the consultation.

18 June 2025: Consumer research findings for the Australian Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial were released.

19 June 2025: eSafety provided advice to the Minister on the draft rules for determining which platforms will not be age restricted.

20 June 2025: Preliminary findings of the Australian Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial showed that technologies, when deployed the right way and likely in conjunction with other techniques and methods, can be private, robust and effective.

24 June 2025: eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant addressed the National Press Club about the importance of social media age restrictions, and about related online safety issues. Read a transcript.

30 July 2025: The Minister made legislative rules clarifying which types of services are excluded from the age restrictions.

1 August 2025: Final report of the Australian Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial released – 10 volumes including individual assessments of each age assurance method evaluated. 

4 August 2025: eSafety published summaries of our community consultations, as well as guidance to help online service providers assess whether their services are age-restricted social media platforms. 

16 September 2025: eSafety published the Social Media Minimum Age regulatory guidance for online service providers, as well the Statement of Commitment to Children's Rights.

25 September 2025: eSafety appointed a Stanford University-led academic advisory group to assess the impacts of the Social Media Minimum Age obligation.

19 October 2025: The Australian Government's national campaign 'For the good of their wellbeing' was launched to raise awareness of the changes.

5 November 2025: eSafety released lists of services it considers will and will not be age-restricted social media platforms. These lists will continue to be updated.

The social media age restrictions are part of the Australian Government’s wider strategy to protect Australians online.

eSafety implements and enforces a number of interconnected measures designed to keep online service providers accountable, encourage greater transparency, prevent online risks and limit the impacts of online harm – especially for children.

Proactive and systemic change

The Australian Government’s Basic Online Safety Expectations set expectations for how certain online services should protect users. Providers are expected to take reasonable steps to:

• ensure people can use their services safely
• consider the best interests of the child in the design and operation of services likely to be accessed by children
• prevent children’s access to age-inappropriate restricted material such as pornography.

These reasonable steps include implementing appropriate age assurance mechanisms.

eSafety has powers to request or require information from providers about how they are meeting the Expectations. In September 2024, eSafety requested information from some of the world’s most popular services to find out how many Australian children are on their platforms and what age assurance measures the services use to enforce their own age restrictions. Read more about the survey and the transparency report.  

The Age-Restricted Material Codes to prevent children under 18 from accessing or being exposed to age-inappropriate material such as pornography, across many different types of online services, were developed by industry associations and registered by eSafety. Three codes were registered on 27 June 2025 and will come into effect on 27 December 2025 – these apply to hosting services, internet carriage services and search engine services. The remaining six codes were registered on 9 September 2025 and will come into effect on various dates starting from 9 March – these apply to app distribution platforms, equipment providers, social media services (core features), social media services (messaging features), relevant electronic services and designated internet services. 

Social media services are also regulated under the Unlawful Material Codes and Standards designed to protect Australians from the most seriously harmful online content, including child sexual exploitation material and pro-terror material. Some codes include specific measures for online services which permit children under 16 to hold accounts, and these will still apply to services that are not included in the mandatory social media age restrictions.

Independently of eSafety, the Information Commissioner has an important role in monitoring and enforcing compliance with the privacy provisions set out in the Social Media Minimum Age law, as well as those set out under the Privacy Act. In June 2025, the eSafety Commissioner sent a letter to the Digital Industry Group (DIGI) expressing her view that safety and privacy do not have to be mutually exclusive.

In addition, the Safety by Design initiative encourages services to embed user safety into their design from the start. By integrating safety features into technology, Safety by Design will complement the new social media age restrictions and reinforce a proactive approach to user protection.  

Meanwhile, the proposed introduction of a Digital Duty of Care, as recommended in the statutory review of the Online Safety Act 2021 and announced by the Australian Government, would place the onus on all digital platforms to proactively keep Australians safe and better prevent online harms.

The social media age restrictions will intersect with each of these activities, so eSafety will take a coordinated approach to making them mutually effective.  

Prevention

The social media age restrictions will not eliminate every risk that children face online, and the risks will not simply disappear when a child turns 16. So eSafety will continue to help people of all ages understand how to use online services and platforms as safely as possible and get help if they are harmed.

We raise community awareness about online safety issues, preventing risks and dealing with harms through our training and education programs. We also provide a wide range of web pages and resources, including information and advice written specifically for young Australians, parents and carers, and educators.

Protection

When prevention measures fail, eSafety provides a safety net for Australians harmed by serious online abuse or exposed to illegal and restricted content.

We investigate complaints and work with online service providers to stop, remove and limit the impacts of cyberbullying of children, adult cyber abuse, image-based abuse (sharing of intimate images and videos without the consent of the person shown), as well as illegal and restricted online content. 

eSafety’s approach to implementing the social media minimum age will be based on research, evidence, deep consultation and careful consideration of the best interests of children.

It will be informed by guiding principles developed through stakeholder consultation on eSafety’s Age verification roadmap:

1. Take a proportionate approach based on risk and harm.
2. Respect and promote human rights.
3. Propose a holistic response that recognises the roles of different stakeholders and supports those most at-risk.
4. Ensure any technical measures minimise data and preserve privacy.
5. Consider the broader domestic and international regulatory context.
6. Consider what is feasible now and anticipate future environments.

Find out more about eSafety’s consultation on age verification and read further analysis of opportunities and risks associated with various age assessment methods in our age assurance trends and challenges issues paper.

eSafety will also build on the consultation undertaken for development of the Restricted Access System that requires certain online service providers to limit access to R18+ content. Find out more about the Restricted Access System Declaration and eSafety’s consultation.

In addition, eSafety will take into account the results of the Australian Government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial, which reviewed age verification, estimation and inference technologies. For more information on the technology trial, visit ageassurance.com.au.

Social media 'ban' or delay frequently asked questions: Find out the facts about the social media age restrictions that will help keep Australians under 16 safer. 

Which platforms are age-restricted? Find lists of the services that, in eSafety's view, will and will not be age-restricted.

How to assess if a service is an age-restricted social media platform: Online service providers can use the assessment guidance to see whether their services are age-restricted social media platforms.

Social Media Minimum Age regulatory guidance: eSafety has published regulatory guidance to help platforms decide which methods are likely to be effective and comply with the Online Safety Act. 

Statement of Commitment to Children's Rights: Read our approach to implementing the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

Other related content:

• eSafety stands ready: Read eSafety’s statement, issued when the Online Safety Amendment received Royal Assent.
• Australian Government fact sheet: Read information on the new legislation to enforce a minimum age for access to social media, and the age assurance technology trial.
• Youth perspective: Read eSafety’s research into young people’s attitudes towards online pornography and age assurance.
• A fairer fight: protecting childhood and adolescence in a digital world: Read the eSafety Commissioner's speech about how age assurance technologies form an important part of a holistic approach to protecting children online.