The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 is a federal law that came into effect on 10 December 2025. From that date, listed platforms are required to take reasonable steps to stop children under 16 from holding accounts on their services.
The penalties — reported at up to around $49.5 million — fall on the platforms, not on families. There is no parental opt-in. The age limit applies regardless of whether you give permission.
The following platforms are on eSafety's list as at early 2026. The list can change as eSafety reviews new services.
Messaging and calling apps, gaming platforms, education tools and health services are all exempt from the ban. That means these are not covered:
This is where group-chat pile-ons, stranger contact in games, and AI chatbots live. We've written a separate guide on what it doesn't cover — worth reading alongside this one.
Platforms can use AI age-estimation from a selfie or short video, government ID upload, or other steps that eSafety considers reasonable. It is not foolproof — VPNs, borrowed logins and shared accounts all present workarounds that determined teenagers will find.
Existing under-16 accounts on listed platforms have likely already been deactivated. Around 4.7 million accounts were removed across Australia by mid-December 2025. Your child may have feelings about that — frustration, sadness, a sense of being left out — and those feelings are worth acknowledging even if you think the law is a good thing.
Treat the ban as a floor, not a ceiling. It removes some risk. It does not remove all of it.
We're Ray and Renie, parents of three on the Sunshine Coast. We built Aunty Bea because we needed it ourselves — not because we're a big tech company with a policy position. We're glad the ban exists. We also know it stops right where messaging, games and AI companion apps keep going. If you're working out how to talk to your child about all of this, our guide on how to talk to your kid about online safety has practical conversation starters for different ages — no lecture required.
The ban is the start of the conversation, not the end of it. Aunty Bea helps Australian families with what comes next, quietly, and without ever showing you your child's private messages.
See how it works →