The Australian Government has delivered on its commitment to support parents and protect young people by setting a minimum age of 16 years for social media, with legislation passing Parliament on 29 November.
It said 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.
Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland said the landmark legislation is centred on protecting young people – not isolating them.
“Good government is about facing up to difficult reform – we know these laws are novel, but to do nothing is simply not an option,” she said.
“Over the next 12 months, we’ll work closely with industry and experts to ensure the minimum age is effectively implemented, informed by the findings of the Age Assurance Technology Trial currently underway.”
The eSafety Commissioner has also welcomed the introduction to Parliament of the Australian Government’s Social Media Minimum Age Bill.
“eSafety has long stated that while age assurance is an important step, it is one part of a holistic approach to protect children and young people from harm online,” the Commissioner said.
“We must also continue working to ensure online services are safe by design, and to build children’s digital literacy, resilience and critical reasoning skills so that when they are of age to use these services, or use services not captured by restrictions, they are equipped for the online world.
“Prevention and education have always been foundational pillars of eSafety’s work and we will continue our work to support parents, carers and schools.”
