Australia bans under 16 year olds from using social media

The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 is a landmark measure that will deliver greater protections for young Australians during critical stages of their development.

The laws place the onus on social media platforms – not young people or their parents – to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 years of age from having accounts, and ensures systemic breaches will see platforms face fines of up to $49.5 million.

The minimum age will apply to ‘age-restricted social media platforms’ as defined in the Bill, which includes Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X and others.

Importantly, the bill ensures that the law is responsive to the ever-evolving nature of technology, while enabling continued access to messaging, online gaming, and services and apps that are primarily for the purposes of education and health support – like Headspace, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom and YouTube.

It contains strong privacy provisions, with platforms required to ring-fence and destroy any data collected once it has been used for age assurance purposes. Failure to destroy data would be a breach of the Privacy Act, with penalties of up to $49.5 million.

The bill also makes clear that no Australian will be compelled to use government identification (including Digital ID) for age assurance on social media. Platforms must offer reasonable alternatives to users.

The bill has been designed following extensive consultation with young Australians, parents, experts, industry, community organisations and National Cabinet, and builds on broader efforts by the Government to hold platforms to account for ensuring the safety of their users.

The new laws will come into effect no later than 12 months from passage of the bill, allowing the necessary time for social media platforms to develop and implement required systems.