Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2026

Summary

This amendment strengthens how the Online Safety Commissioner can enforce rules about social media age limits, making it easier to penalise platforms that don't keep children under a certain age off their services. It modifies the Online Safety Act 2021 to give the regulator stronger powers to investigate breaches and issue tougher penalties against social media companies that fail to comply. The change matters because social media platforms have struggled to enforce age restrictions, and this gives the Australian authorities better tools to hold them accountable and protect younger users from accessing age-inappropriate content and services.

What happens at this stage

The main debate on whether the chamber supports the broad purpose of the bill. Members speak to its overall merits and concerns rather than the fine print. The government outlines its policy intentions; the opposition and crossbench put their case. This is the stage that determines whether the bill proceeds at all.

Next: Consideration in Detail (House) or Committee of the Whole (Senate), where the bill is examined clause by clause