From the Executive Deputy Principal

Social Media minimum age – update on age-restricted platforms

Under the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, age-restricted social media platforms are required to take reasonable measures to prevent Australians under the age of 16 from creating or maintaining an account from 10 December 2025.

The delay gives families extra time to talk about online safety and wellbeing with their child or children, to help them prepare for the risks and pressures of social media when they turn 16. It is breathing space for young people to build digital, social and emotional skills as part of their ongoing development, and to understand the importance of reaching out for help if things go wrong.

The anticipated changes aim to protect under-16s from pressures and risks they can be exposed to while logged into social media accounts. These come from design features within the platforms that:

• encourage them to spend too much time on screens – for example, by prompting with streams of notifications and alerts, and pressuring them to view disappearing content

• increase the likelihood of exposure to negative, upsetting or manipulative content served up in their feeds by algorithms.

   

These features have been linked to harms to health and wellbeing – including increased stress and anxiety levels, and reduced sleep and concentration. 

To help the online industry and the public to prepare for the Social Media Minimum Age obligation (SMMA obligation), the office of the eSafety Commissioner has considered whether certain services are likely to be ‘age-restricted social media platforms’ and are therefore required to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from having social media accounts from 10 December 2025.

Services that, in eSafety’s view, will be age-restricted social media platforms and others that will not be considered age-restricted social media platforms, as of 5 November 2025 are listed below.

Services that eSafety considers will be age-restricted social media platforms

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Kick

• Reddit

• Snapchat

• Threads

• Tik Tok

• X (formerly Twitter)

• YouTube

   

Services that eSafety considers will not be age-restricted social media platforms

• Discord

• GitHub

• Google Classroom

• LEGO Play

• Messenger

• Roblox

• Steam and Steam Chat

• WhatsApp

• YouTube Kids

Important information about these lists

From the website:

These lists reflect eSafety's views as at 5 November 2025. eSafety will continue to update the lists prior to the SMMA obligation coming into effect on 10 December 2025.

A service being listed does not necessarily mean that the service agrees with eSafety’s views.

eSafety will not be considering every service before 10 December 2025. eSafety continues to focus on those services with the greatest number of Australian users under the age of 16 and will consider, among other factors, the services’ use of features and functions associated with risks of harm to children. Where possible, eSafety has also considered services that have reached out to eSafety following self-assessment.

eSafety does not have a formal role in declaring which services are age-restricted social media platforms. In the absence of any rules made by the Minister of Communications specifying a service is either an age-restricted social media platform or not an age-restricted social media platform, any determination that a service is or is not an age-restricted social media platform is a matter for the court.

For additional information and updates, Monican families are strongly encouraged to visit the eSafety Commissioner’s website and register for eSafety News.

Miss P Di Maria

Executive Deputy Principal