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ARTICLE · 19 JANUARY 2025

Social media use in Australia to be restricted for under 16s

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Australia has introduced a world-first social media ban for under 16-year olds.

AustraliaTechnology
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Australia has introduced a world-first social media ban for under 16-year olds. Certain social media platforms will be required to take reasonable steps to prevent Australian children under the age of 16 from having accounts on their platform.

On 10 December 2024, the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (Amendment Act) received Royal Assent and added a new Part 4A to the Online Safety Act 2021 with the following key features:

  1. 'Age-restricted social media platforms' must take reasonable steps to prevent users under the age of 16 having accounts with the platform.

  2. The penalty for non-compliance is up to AUD $49.5 million, but only comes into effect, at the earliest, 12 months after the legislation takes force.

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