Operates a social platform, in Australia

[2021] HCA 27

• If you create and administer a public page or forum on a platform and invite comment from the public, treat yourself as the publisher of the third-party comments posted there for the purposes of Australian defamation law: the High Court held that facilitating, encouraging and thereby assisting the posting of comments rendered the page owners their publishers.
• Do not rely on having been unaware of a particular comment, or on not having intended to publish it: the joint reasons of Kiefel CJ, Keane and Gleeson JJ held that a publisher's liability does not depend on knowledge of the defamatory matter or an intention to communicate it.
• Do not read the ruling as deciding liability: the Court decided only whether the page owners were publishers of the comments, and the defences to a defamation claim, including innocent dissemination, were not before it.

Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Rules 2025 (Cth), F2025L00889, made under the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), as amended by the Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Amendment Rules 2026 (Cth) · Read the law's page

• These Rules set no duty of their own: they exclude specified categories of service from the age-restricted social media platform definition, so the section 63D under-16 account rule does not apply to them. Since 26 March 2026 a service is an age-restricted social media platform only if it also has a recommender feature or a logged-in feature.
• You need not apply the under-16 account rule if your service is an excluded category: messaging and communication services, online gaming services, professional networking and development services, or services primarily for education or health support.
• eSafety guidance treats messaging apps, most gaming platforms and services such as Discord, Roblox, Steam, WhatsApp and YouTube Kids as out of scope.

Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (Cth), No. 127, 2024, inserting Part 4A into the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), No. 76, 2021 · Read the law's page

• Applies to providers of age-restricted social media platforms as defined in section 63C (examples include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, Threads, YouTube, Twitch, Kick and Reddit).
• Take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from having an account (section 63D, in force since 10 December 2025).
• Do not rely on government issued identification documents or accredited digital ID services as the only means of age assurance; offer reasonable alternatives (section 63DB).
• The obligation binds while the High Court challenge on the implied freedom of political communication proceeds, because no injunction was granted.