Internet & Online Safety - Australia

The Online Safety Act 2021 gives the eSafety Commissioner powers to investigate complaints and order removal of cyberbullying of children, adult cyber abuse, image-based abuse, and illegal/restricted content, backed by the Basic Online Safety Expectations applying to social media, messaging, gaming and app services.

The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 requires age-restricted platforms (including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, Kick, Threads) to take 'reasonable steps' to stop under-16s holding accounts; the obligation took effect 10 December 2025.

Platforms that fail to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16 accounts face court-ordered civil penalties of up to 150,000 penalty units (about AUD 49.5 million); there are no penalties for children or their parents.

eSafety released regulatory guidance on reasonable steps on 16 September 2025 and reported that age-restricted platforms removed access to about 4.7 million under-16 accounts across Australia by mid-December 2025.

Phase 2 Age-Restricted Material Codes require age assurance and safety defaults: search-engine codes (in effect 27 December 2025) blur pornography and high-impact violence by default, and a further six codes covering app stores, social media, messaging and adult-content sites take effect from 9 March 2026, replacing 'click I am 18' self-declaration.

The Act lets eSafety register industry-developed codes for managing illegal and restricted (class 1/class 2) content and, where codes are inadequate, impose mandatory industry standards, covering carriage, hosting, search, app distribution, social media, electronic and internet services.