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. 

From mid-December, Australian children under 16 will not be allowed to hold accounts on certain social media platforms. The Australian Parliament voted for the restrictions for the good of all Australians under 16. The delay is similar to other age-based laws, such as restrictions on the sale of alcohol and cigarettes. 

Age-restricted platforms won’t be allowed to let under-16s create or keep an account. That’s because being logged into an account increases the likelihood that they’ll be exposed to pressures and risks that can be hard to deal with. While most platforms currently have a minimum age of 13 for account holders, delaying account access until 16 will give young people more time to develop important skills and maturity. It’s breathing space to build digital literacy, critical reasoning, impulse control and greater resilience. It also means there’s extra time to teach under-16s about online risks and the impacts of harms, as well as how to stay safer online and seek help when they need it.

After the law takes effect on 10 December 2025, Australians can expect to see age-restricted social media platforms taking steps to stop under-16s setting up or continuing to use accounts.

So under the new law, age-restricted platforms will be expected to take steps to:

• find existing accounts held by under-16s, and deactivate those accounts
• prevent under-16s from opening new accounts
• prevent workarounds that may allow under-16s to bypass the restrictions
• have processes to correct errors if someone is mistakenly missed by or included in the restrictions, so no one is removed unfairly.

Which Platforms will be age-restricted?

While no formal assessments have been made, the age restrictions are likely to apply to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube, among other platforms.

Age restrictions will apply to social media platforms that meet three specific conditions:

• the sole purpose, or a significant purpose, of the service is to enable online social interaction between two or more end-users
• the service allows end-users to link to, or interact with, some or all of the other end-users
• the service allows end-users to post material on the service

Current Accounts

Under-16s who already have accounts will not be able to keep them. Age-restricted social media platforms will have to take reasonable steps to find and deactivate accounts held by under-16s.

Penalties

There are no penalties for under-16s who access an age-restricted social media platform, or for their parents or carers. This is about protecting young people, not punishing or isolating them. The goal is to help parents and carers support the health and wellbeing of under-16s. 

On the other hand, age-restricted social media platforms may face penalties if they don’t take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from having accounts on their platforms.

Information from the eSafety Commissioner.

More information can be found here.