From 10 December 2025, social media companies will need to make sure every user in Australia is at least 16 years old.
This is called ‘social media minimum age’ but sometimes it is also called the social media ‘ban’ or ‘delay’.
For many young people aged 13-15, this means that your account may be placed into a deactivated state on 10 December 2025 until you turn 16 years old and choose to reactivate it.
Privacy tips at a glance:
- Only share your information with people you trust - You should only share information about you, including your contact details like your phone number and email, with people you know and trust.
- Know your digital footprint - There’s a difference between the kinds of information you should share online and what you should keep private. The more personal information you share online, the greater the risk that your privacy might be compromised.
- Secure your contact details - Good password practices are an essential security measure to keep your personal information safe. Your passwords should not be shared with anyone, especially at school or online.
- Review your privacy settings - Before your account is potentially deactivated, review the privacy settings on your social media accounts. This can help you control what personal information is collected.
- Privacy means having control of your personal information - Just like you, your personal information is unique and valuable like treasure. Hold onto it carefully.
Your privacy and the Social Media Minimum Age
As Australia’s privacy regulator, the OAIC wants young people to know that they are in control of their personal information when engaging with the digital world.
Personal information is information that could identify you like your name, address, email, phone number, school, date of birth and photographs. It also can be things like your location and opinions. Personal information is valuable like treasure! Hold onto it carefully.
Privacy is about protecting personal information that reveals who you are, what you do, what you think and what you believe.
With this change to social media access coming, you may want to find new ways to connect with your family, friends, and communities. Below are some tips for young people to help protect your personal information as the Social Media Minimum Age scheme comes into effect.
You should only share information about you, including your contact details like your phone number and email, with people you know and trust.
Do not share your personal information publicly, including posting it on your social media profile or a public page.
There are lots of strangers on the internet who might use your information in ways that you don’t want. Online companies or hackers might also use scrapers, which is like a big net, fishing for information, to collect your personal information for advertising or scams.
Posting personal information like your email, address, or phone number to social media publicly before 10 December might lead to you losing some control of your privacy.
Remember if you notice anything suspicious, like unknown people trying to contact you or something just feels off, talk to a trusted adult.
If you’re looking for new ways to connect with people that you know and trust, share your contact information directly with those people in private and secure chats.
Your digital footprint can last forever. It can be difficult to remove or delete information once you have shared it.
There’s a difference between the kinds of information you should share online and what you should keep private. The more personal information you share online, the greater the risk that your privacy might be compromised. This is particularly important if you share your phone number, address, email, school, plans to connect with others, and sharing location information.
Posting your information publicly on social media in the lead up to the Social Media Minimum Age scheme may mean your information is retained and accessible by others for a long time.
Good password practices are an essential security measure to keep your personal information safe. Your passwords should not be shared with anyone, especially at school or online.
If your social media account is deactivated on 10 December 2025, you want to make sure you can access it again when you turn 16 if you choose to reactivate it.
Create unique passphrases (that is, passwords) for all your accounts. The best passphrases are made up of a few words, use a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. Avoid using birth dates, your name or the name of a family member or pet.
Setting up multi-factor (for example, 2-Step) authentication can further secure your account.
Before your account is potentially deactivated, review the privacy settings on your social media accounts. This can help you control what personal information is collected.
Consider personal information that can be collected through your camera, microphone, online cookies (which remembers information about you), and online scrapers.
If you are unsure, talk to a trusted adult to set the privacy settings on your device and social media accounts to high, to limit how much information you share and who you want to share it with.
Just like you, your personal information is unique and valuable like treasure. Hold onto it carefully. Don’t share it without good reason and only share what is needed with trusted people and websites, when required.
