Social Media Age Restrictions

The Australian Government is protecting young Australians at a critical stage of their development, through world-first social media age restrictions.
Part 4A of the Online Safety Act 2021 introduces an obligation on age-restricted social media platforms to prevent children under 16 years from having accounts on their services, by December 2025. This obligation is one part of a broader strategy to create safer digital spaces for everyone.

The change aims to strengthen existing measures for protecting young users, especially where there are particular risks associated with accessing potentially harmful social media content and features such as persistent notifications and alerts that have been found to have a negative impact on sleep, stress levels and attention.

The onus is on the applicable service providers to introduce systems and processes that ensure people under the minimum age cannot create or keep a social media account. This means there will be no penalties for age-restricted users who gain access to an age-restricted social media platform, or for their parents or carers.

Social media age restriction - eSaftey Commissioner

Headspace: Information for family about social media ban