Australia to enforce a social media ban for children: Will it achieve its goals?

On 28 Nov., the Australian Parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 to amend the Online Safety Act 2021, giving businesses one year to comply before it comes into effect. The law introduces a legal minimum age of 16 to hold an account with certain social media platforms and requires these platforms to introduce reasonable age-gating practices. Specific privacy protections will require limited use and retention of personal information collected to comply with the law, and robust penalties for noncompliance.

Intended to protect children's safety, health and well-being through corporate responsibility

The new law intends to mitigate negative impacts and harm to children through social media use by limiting their exposure during critical stages of their development. The explanatory memorandum highlighted that children on social media are vulnerable to harmful products or content; harassment, including by predators; and things that impact sleep, stress levels and attention. This includes addictive features, persistent notifications and alerts. These harms have resulted in negative adolescent health and well-being, including life satisfaction.

The law places responsibility on certain social media platforms to self-regulate and to prevent children from holding accounts or profiles where the government considers these harms are likely to occur. The explanatory memorandum explains major social media platforms exclude children under the age of 13 in their terms of service and says "setting a minimum age removes ambiguity about when the 'right' time is for their children to engage on social media and establishes a new social norm."

Applies to age-restricted social media platforms