Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024

The first law of its kind: age-restricted social media platforms must take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from holding an account, for existing accounts as well as new ones. It is a platform obligation, not a parental-consent regime — there is no consent route that lets an under-16 on — and it is enforced against the provider by the eSafety Commissioner, with civil penalties up to 150,000 penalty units for a breach of the minimum-age obligation. Which services are age-restricted is set by the Minister working with the eSafety Commissioner rather than fixed in the statute, so scope is a live question a provider must track. The Act also requires the age-assurance steps taken to be reasonable, privacy-preserving, and proportionate, which puts it in direct tension with maximal identity verification and makes the eSafety Commissioner's regulatory guidance the operative document.