What the historic U/16 social media laws mean

From Wednesday, 10th December 2025, the Australian Government will implement a new legislative framework that requires certain social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 years of age from holding accounts with them.

The 10 platforms currently listed as being required to comply with the ‘Social Media Minimum Age obligation’ are: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Threads, Reddit, Kik, Twitch and X (Twitter).

The world-leading reforms are designed to protect children’s wellbeing and the purpose of this communication is for Swimming Australia to outline some basic considerations and to help navigate the social media reform.

Why This Matters – by National Wellbeing and Engagement Manager Linley Frame:

• Protecting mental health and self-worth
  Social media can expose teens to unrealistic body-image standards, constant social comparison, and unrelenting pressure to perform, all of which can fuel anxiety, low self-esteem and burnout. By reducing that noise, the new law gives young athletes a chance to concentrate on improvement, resilience and personal growth – not likes or followers.
• Supporting physical health, training and recovery
  Less screen time can mean better sleep and more opportunity for real-life training, rest, and recovery – foundations for healthy development, coordination and long-term performance.
• Encouraging real social bonds and life skills
  Sport is about teamwork, communication, leadership, resilience and many more skills. These skills are best built through face-to-face interaction, shared training, and community involvement.

What the Law Does – And What That Means:

• The responsibility lies with platforms, not with families or the young people themselves – there are no penalties for under-16s or their parents.
• What do tech companies need to do: they must detect and block under 16s, deactivate their existing accounts, close loopholes and offer a review process for wrongly flagged users.

What This Means for the Swimming Community – Clubs, Coaches, Parents & Athletes – by Gary Barclay Executive GM High Performance Pathways, Coaching & Participation

• Coaches and clubs: This is an opportunity to reinforce healthy habits including focus on training, rest, teamwork and wellbeing rather than online persona or external validation.
• Parents and guardians: Use this change to help young people build balanced routines including time for school, sport, hobbies, friendships and rest.
• Young athletes: View this as a chance to grow. Focus on your skills, strength, mental health, resilience, and real-life connections.

Commercial Considerations:

• Some U/16 athletes have commercial arrangements in place with sponsors and often, a key aspect of such arrangements is a requirement to post on social media with (for example) sponsor-name acknowledgements, product or equipment mentions, and the wearing of branded clothes or accessories.
• It remains to be seen what view the regulator or platforms themselves will take of situations in which an adult third party owns and administers an U/16’s social media accounts.
• The Australian Sports Commission is in contact with the eSafety Commission to explore how the interests and obligations of U/16 athletes in commercial-arrangement situations can be advised and accommodated going forward.
• If an U/16 has a sponsorship agreement that requires them to make social media posts:
• In this scenario, an affected U/16 athlete might seek to renegotiate the terms of their agreement to require posting on a platform that is not caught under the new framework. (How plausible a likelihood this is remains to be seen.)
• Athletes who are a party to a contract of this nature are advised to seek specialist advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

Also as a reference: What do social media age restrictions mean for sport organisations? | eSafety Commissioner