On November 29, 2024, the Australian Parliament passed the Australian Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, requiring certain social media platforms to prevent children under 16 from creating accounts. The law, which amends the Online Safety Act 2021 and the Age Discrimination Act 2004, marks a significant shift in social media regulation.
In discussing the intent of the legislation, the explanatory memorandum emphasizes the potential risk of harm of social media on children: “Until now, the incentive for social media companies has been to optimize user engagement and time spent on platforms. . . . While this impacts all users of social media, it is particularly detrimental to children and young people, who are generally more vulnerable to the harms associated with platforms.”
The legislation specifically targets “age-restricted social media platforms,” defined to include Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X. The responsibility for age verification now falls on the platforms themselves. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland stated in their media release, the bill “place[s] the onus on social media platforms—not young people or their parents—to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 years of age from having accounts.”
The financial implications for non-compliance are substantial. Companies that systematically breach these requirements could face fines of up to A$49.5 million (around US$31.9 million). The same penalty applies to platforms that fail to destroy data collected during the age verification process.
While the legislation doesn’t explicitly define what constitutes “reasonable steps” for age verification, the explanatory memorandum states that the platforms are expected to implement some form of age assurance methodology, with the effectiveness of these measures being evaluated based on several factors, including available verification methods, implementation costs, and data privacy implications.
The legislation is set to take effect in late 2025.
Prepared by Samha Khan, Legal Research Fellow, under the supervision of Hanibal Goitom, Chief, Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Division I
Law Library of Congress, December 9, 2024
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