Australia: Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 entered into force with grace period

On 11 December 2024, the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 commenced, following Royal Assent on 10 December 2024, amending the Online Safety Act 2021 to establish a minimum-age framework for age-restricted social media platforms and requiring providers to take reasonable steps to prevent Australian children under 16 years of age from holding accounts. The Act introduced a maximum grace period of 12 months from commencement before the minimum-age obligation would take effect. The Act introduced restrictions on the collection, use and retention of personal information obtained for age-assurance purposes, with misuse treated as an interference with privacy under the Privacy Act 1988, and enabled the online safety regulator to collect compliance information, issue non-compliance notifications, and coordinate Commonwealth activity relating to online safety. It also increased civil penalties to 30’000 penalty units and introduced a requirement to conduct an independent review of the minimum-age framework within two years of enforcement commencing.