AU OSA Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 4A, ss 63C-63D, 63DA-63DB - Social media minimum age: reasonable steps to prevent…
Implement age assurance measures to prevent children under 16 from accessing social media and to restrict access to age-restricted content
Where this comes from
Provision: Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 4A, ss 63C-63D, 63DA-63DB - Social media minimum age: reasonable steps to prevent under-16s having accounts; information that must not be collected
Instrument: Australia Online Safety Act 2021 - Age Verification
Citation: Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 4A: s 63C (age-restricted social media platform), s 63D (civil penalty for failing to take reasonable steps), s 63DA (information that must not be collected), s 63DB (government-issued identification and accredited services), s 5 ('age-restricted user'); inserted by the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 and further amended in 2026 by an Act the compilation's endnotes list by number only (see confidenceNotes)
Text version: Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), compilation of 12 September 2026 (includes the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 and Act No. 83 of 2026, whose title and commencement were not established from the retrieved text), and Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022, compilation of 31 May 2024 (includes the Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2024); both retrieved from legislation.gov.au on 2026-09-21.
Who it applies to
It applies when all of these are true:
- Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18
- Service requires/offers account registration
- Youngest user age is Under 13 or 13-15
- Service type: Social Media
…unless:
- The prohibition on collecting government-issued identification material or using an accredited Digital ID service for the purpose of complying with s 63D does not apply if the provider provides alternative means, not involving that material or those... (Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), s 63DB(2))
- Section 63D does not apply to a provider if, because of the legislative rules made under s 63DA(1), there are no reasonable steps the provider could take to comply with it. (Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), s 63DA(3))
Scope in the source's own terms
- Social media service
- Service available in Australia
What engineering work it implies
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Default profile visibility: private (not public)
- Default data sharing: off (opt-in, not opt-out)
- Default location tracking: off
- Default contact discoverability: off
- User can change any default via settings
Evidence an auditor expects
- Technical controlTechnical audit
Age verification for social media
Implementation of age verification preventing under-16s from social media
- Process recordLog analysis
Age verification audit log
Records of age verification attempts and outcomes
Questions people ask
- Does AU OSA Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 4A, ss 63C-63D, 63DA-63DB - Social… apply to my service?
- It applies when Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18; Service requires/offers account registration; Youngest user age is Under 13 or 13-15; Service type: Social Media. It does not apply where The prohibition on collecting government-issued identification material or using an accredited Digital ID service for the purpose of complying with s 63D does not apply if the provider provides alternative means, not involving that material or those... (Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), s 63DB(2)).
- From when does this apply?
- AU OSA Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 4A, ss 63C-63D, 63DA-63DB - Social… applies from 1 November 2024. Its current status is: in force.
- What evidence does an auditor expect?
- Age verification for social media; Age verification audit log.
Find out whether this one lands on you
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Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.