The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) will run webinars to help educators and youth-serving professionals in the lead up to the Australian Government’s social media changes for children under 16.
From 10 December 2025, certain social media platforms won’t be allowed to let Australian children under 16 create or keep an account, giving them more time to develop important skills and maturity.
The age restrictions are likely to apply to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube as well as other platforms.
The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) is the Australian Government’s independent online safety regulator.
The 30-minute webinars will cover:
- What the new legislation means for educators and youth-serving professionals
- Insights into how platform design features can impact young people’s wellbeing
- Strategies and resources to support young people through the transition.
eSafety said attendees would leave with:
- a clearer understanding of the age restriction legislation
- practical resources to support young people and families through the changes
- the confidence to respond to questions and concerns from young people and parents and carers about what is happening.
Other new resources
On 21 October 2025 eSafety also launched new pages on its social media age restrictions hub. The hub is designed to support parents and carers, educators and young people as they prepare for the restrictions to come into effect.
eSafety said it consulted widely with educators, parents, carers and young people to develop new guidance, advice, and answers to frequently asked questions, including:
- How will the age restrictions impact schools that use social media?
- How should schools respond if a student under 16 is found to have access to an age-restricted account?
- What if something goes wrong while an under-16 is on an age-restricted platform?
Webinars for parents
eSafety is also running webinars for parents.
Other resources include:
- An educator stakeholder kit.
- A classroom tech agreement to use in classrooms to help set clear expectations for working and interacting online
- Support for parents, carers and families
- Support for students
- A classroom tech agreement to use in classrooms to help set clear expectations for working and interacting online.
The Commissioner said under-16s would still be able to see publicly available social media content that doesn’t require logging into an account.
And schools may need to explore alternative methods for communicating with parents and students, eSafety said.
There are exclusions for several platforms, including educational tools such as learning management systems. For example, Google Classroom and YouTube Kids will not be age restricted, and YouTube videos that can be seen without logging in can still be shared by teachers.
eSafety advised that, for further guidance, including whether educators will be able to use their own accounts to share age-appropriate education materials, teachers should refer to school or sector policies and procedures.
The webinars for educators are on 10, 19, 26 and 27 November and 1 December at 3.45pm AEDT. Register.
