How common is non-consensual tracking, monitoring and harassment among children in Australia?

¹ _{Under the legislation, which came into effect on 10 December 2025, age-restricted social media platforms must take reasonable steps to prevent Australian children under 16 from creating or holding accounts.}

² _{Part of a nationally representative survey of 3,454 children aged 10 to 17 years living in Australia between December 2024 and February 2025.}

³ _{For more information about the methodology of the research, see the methodology report.}

⁴ _{‘Sexually diverse’ includes participants who identified their sexual orientation as 'gay or lesbian’, ‘bisexual’, ‘queer’, ‘asexual’, ‘pansexual’ or that they are ‘still working it out’. Sexuality was asked only of children aged 13–17.}

⁵ _{12-month incidence for sexually diverse teens didn’t differ significantly to 12-month incidence for straight teens.}

⁶ _{The smaller sample size for trans and gender-diverse children should be considered when interpreting these findings (n=83).}

⁷ _{12-month incidence for trans and gender-diverse children didn’t differ significantly to 12-month incidence for girls or boys.}

⁸ _{Arrows denote statistically significant differences between sub-groups. The proportion of children aged 13 to 15 and 16 to 17 who experienced non-consensual tracking, monitoring or harassment in the past 12 months didn’t differ significantly.}

⁹ _{Q: Has anyone ever done either of these things to you online without your permission, making you feel uncomfortable, worried or scared? Important: If it was just someone like a parent or caregiver doing this to keep you safe, and you were comfortable with this, please answer ‘no’.}

¹⁰ _{Q: Have you ever felt worried or scared because someone kept sending you messages, calling you or posting on your social media page and they wouldn’t stop, even after you asked them to? Only answer ‘yes’ if this unwanted contact went on for at least two weeks and if they tried to contact you at least 10 times. Important: If it was just messages or calls from friends or family that were a bit annoying, or things like spam or advertising, please answer ‘no’.}

¹¹ _{Q: Has anyone ever done either of these things to you online without your permission, making you feel uncomfortable, worried or scared? Important: If it was just someone like a parent or caregiver doing this to keep you safe, and you were comfortable with this, please answer ‘no’.}

¹² _{A subset of children who had experienced non-consensual tracking, monitoring or harassment (n=429) were asked further questions about their most recent experience of this.}

¹³ _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Who did this? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹⁴ _{Q: Think now about the last time someone you already knew in real life [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Who did this? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹⁵ _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. How old do you think the person who did this was? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹⁶ _{Q: Think just about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Which platform did this happen to you on? You can choose more than one answer.}

¹⁷ _{Platforms reported by <5% of children combined as ‘Another online platform’.}

¹⁸ _{Q: Think of the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Was it something that happened only online, or was the same person also doing things like this to you in real life?}

¹⁹ _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. How did you feel? You can choose more than one answer.}

²⁰ _{Q: Keep thinking about the last time someone [RECENT EXPERIENCE]. Did you have any difficulties because of this experience? You can choose more than one answer.}