This report explores the early experiences of children, as well as their parents, three months after the commencement of Australia’s social media age restrictions.
It describes early findings from eSafety’s evaluation of the age restrictions, drawing on baseline data collected before the commencement of the age restrictions (November to December 2025) and data from the three-month follow-up survey (March to April 2026).
This report is the first in a series that will be published over the course of the two-year evaluation.
It highlights any changes observed since the commencement of the age restrictions and provides an early assessment of how the restrictions are being implemented and experienced (for example, whether children continue to hold accounts on age-restricted social media platforms or have lost access to them), alongside early outcomes and any potential unintended consequence.
While substantial changes were not necessarily expected at this early stage, the report highlights how the restrictions are being experienced by children and their families, helping to identify emerging issues that may warrant ongoing monitoring.
Click here to read the full report. An executive summary by the Tech Impact and Policy Center’s Social Media Lab, the eSafety Commissioner’s Lead Academic Partner on the study, can be found here.