Internet & Online Safety · Australia
Online safety & content laws in Australia (2026)
Australia shaded by its internet & online safety status
Online safety rules in Australia: comprehensive law.
FrameworkOnline Safety Act 2021 (Cth), administered by the eSafety Commissioner; amended by the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024; supplemented by Basic Online Safety Expectations and registered Phase 1/Phase 2 Industry Codes and Standards.
Australia operates one of the world's most developed online-safety regimes, built around the Online Safety Act 2021 and an independent statutory regulator (the eSafety Commissioner) with take-down, information-gathering and civil-penalty powers. Since December 2025 Australia has enforced a world-first minimum age of 16 for accounts on designated social media platforms, and Phase 2 industry codes covering age-assurance for adult content took effect in March 2026. The Government announced in April 2026 that it will legislate a broader statutory 'digital duty of care' on platforms, with draft legislation expected later in 2026.
Key points
The Online Safety Act 2021 (in force 23 January 2022) consolidates schemes on cyberbullying of children, adult cyber-abuse, image-based abuse, illegal and restricted content and abhorrent violent material, and empowers the eSafety Commissioner to issue removal notices, service-provider notifications and civil-penalty proceedings.
The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 commenced on 10 December 2025, requiring specified 'age-restricted social media platforms' (currently including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, Reddit, Threads, Kick, Twitch and YouTube) to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from holding accounts; non-compliance can attract civil penalties of up to A$49.5 million.
Under s.45 of the Act, the Minister has set out Basic Online Safety Expectations that social media, relevant electronic services and designated internet services must meet, backed by the eSafety Commissioner's transparency-reporting powers; the regulatory guidance was updated in December 2025 and February 2026.
Phase 2 Online Safety Codes covering search engines, hosting and internet carriage took effect on 27 December 2025; the remaining Phase 2 codes (social media, RES, DIS, app distribution, equipment) took effect on 9 March 2026, requiring age-assurance measures for access to online pornography and other class 1C/class 2 material, with app-distribution age assurance for 18+ apps due by 9 September 2026.
The eSafety Commissioner can issue formal removal notices to services and end-users, with statutory time limits (as short as 24 hours for cyberbullying material and image-based abuse) and civil penalties for non-compliance; in a 2026 Federal Court decision (eSafety Commissioner v Baumgarten) the Court held that certain informal take-down requests are amenable to merits review.
On 14 April 2026 the Government responded to the Statutory Review of the Online Safety Act, agreeing wholly or in part with 64 of 67 recommendations and committing to legislate a risk-based 'digital duty of care' on platforms, with maximum penalties of up to A$100 million for serious or systemic breaches; draft legislation is expected later in 2026 with a 12-month transition.
Timeline - major decisions & events
Age-restricted platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube, Reddit and others) must take reasonable steps to stop under-16s from holding accounts, with fines up to ~A$50 million. Australia became the first country to enforce a minimum social media age.
eSafety Commissioner ↗eSafety registered six additional industry codes covering app distribution platforms, social media services, equipment providers and other services to limit children's access to online pornography and high-impact (Class 1C/Class 2) material, commencing 9 March 2026.
eSafety Commissioner ↗Codes for internet carriage, hosting and search engine services regarding Class 1C and Class 2 material were added to the register, commencing 27 December 2025, extending the co-regulatory scheme to age-restricted content.
eSafety Commissioner ↗Parliament passed legislation establishing a minimum age of 16 for accounts on age-restricted social media platforms, amending the Online Safety Act 2021 and setting up the world-first ban that later took effect in December 2025.
Federal Register of Legislation ↗After a court refused a longer-term injunction, the Commissioner dropped proceedings seeking global removal of the Wakeley church stabbing video, opting instead for merits review, a high-profile test of the limits of Australia's removal-notice powers.
eSafety Commissioner ↗In [2024] FCA 499 the Federal Court declined to extend an injunction requiring X to globally block 65 links to the Wakeley stabbing footage, finding eSafety had not established that worldwide removal was a 'reasonable step.'
eSafety Commissioner ↗The Act took effect, giving eSafety stronger removal powers (including a new adult cyber-abuse scheme and faster takedown times), and the Basic Online Safety Expectations Determination set enforceable transparency obligations on platforms.
eSafety Commissioner ↗Parliament passed the Online Safety Act 2021, consolidating eSafety's powers into a single modern statute and expanding its remit to image-based abuse and serious adult cyber-abuse alongside child cyberbullying.
Federal Register of Legislation ↗The government expanded the office's remit beyond children to protect all Australians from online harm, renaming it the eSafety Commissioner, a key step toward today's whole-of-population regulator.
Dept of Infrastructure (Australian Govt) ↗The Enhancing Online Safety for Children Act 2015 created Australia's first dedicated online safety regulator and a complaints-based scheme to require removal of serious cyberbullying material targeting children.
Dept of Infrastructure (Australian Govt) ↗Australia's foundational internet content law amended the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to create a co-regulatory complaints and classification regime (administered by ACMA), establishing the model later modernised by the Online Safety Act.
Federal Register of Legislation ↗Australia - other topics
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