Australia’s landmark ban on social media for persons under the age of 16 comes into effect on 10 December 2025.
The ban will require social media platforms to take reasonable steps to ensure that children under the age of 16 are prohibited from creating or holding a social media account.
A platform will be caught by the new prohibitions if it satisfies all of the following conditions:
- the sole purpose, or a significant purpose, of the service is to enable online social interaction between 2 or more end users;
- the service allows end users to link to, or interact with, some or all of the other end users;
- the service allows end users to post material on the service; and
- such other conditions (if any) as are set out in the legislative rules (no further conditions have been prescribed, currently).
Online social interaction does not include, for example, online business interactions.
The new restrictions will be monitored and enforced by the eSafety Commissioner. The eSafety Commissioner has stated that the following platforms, without limitation, are considered to be age-restricted social media platforms to which the ban applies:
- Kick
- Snapchat
- Threads
- TikTok
- Twitch
- X
- YouTube
Under legislative rules, the following services are not subject to the new restrictions:
- services that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling end users to communicate by means of messaging, email, voice calling or video calling;
- services that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling end users to play online games with other end users;
- services that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling end users to share information (such as reviews, technical support or advice) about products or services;
- services that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling end users to engage in professional networking or professional development;
- services that have the sole or primary purpose of supporting the education of end users;
- services that have the sole or primary purpose of supporting the health of end users;
- services that have a significant purpose of facilitating communication between educational institutions and students or students’ families; or
- services that have a significant purpose of facilitating communication between providers of health care and people using those providers’ services.
It is up to social media platforms to determine the “reasonable steps” they will use to ensure that persons under the age of 16 are prohibited from accessing the service. However, requesting government-issued ID must not be the only method used. Self-declarations of age – eg. “tick here to confirm you are under the age of 16” – are not considered to be sufficient.
Fines of up to AUD49.5 million can apply to social media platforms who fail to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16-year-olds from accessing the platform.
The social media ban is one part of a swathe of age assurance measures due to come into effect next year. From March 2026, providers of online video games which contain communications functionality or other high-impact content (X18+ material) or simulated gambling will also be required to take steps to ensure that users under the age of 18 are prohibited from accessing the service. The effect of this is that services which are not caught by the upcoming social media ban may still be required to implement age assurance and access control measures under separate industry codes and standards which are also administered and enforced by the eSafety Commissioner.
It is vital that businesses and online services understand what requirements, if any, they are subject to under these new regulations. This is especially the case given the significant penalties that can be imposed for non-compliance.
For assistance in understanding how Australia’s online safety regime applies to you, please contact the Addisons Gaming & Gambling or Privacy & Data Protection Teams.