Australia's Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024

Passed by the Australian Parliament on 29 November 2024, this law is the world's first legislated minimum age restriction on social media use at a national scale. It requires "designated social media services" to take reasonable steps to prevent minors under 16 from creating accounts. Platforms that fail to comply face civil penalties of up to 150,000 penalty units (equivalent to approximately AUD 49.5 million). The law also contains strong privacy protections: any data collected for age verification purposes must be destroyed after use, and failure to do so constitutes a breach of the Privacy Act.