Implementing Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age Law

This year the Australian government is implementing a new law, the ‘Social Media Minimum Age Act’ (SMMA), which restricts usage of platforms that they deem to be social media, to those 16 years of age or older. For more information on the Australian laws prompting this change, please see here.

Since the very beginning, Snapchat is and has always been, a visual messaging app. The primary purpose of Snapchat is to connect our community with their closest friends and family. We know that Snapping is the most personal way of communicating.

However, the Australian government disagrees and has classified Snapchat as an Age-Restricted Social Media Platform. And while we strongly disagree with this assessment, we will comply, as we do with all local laws in countries in which we operate.

What this means for brands

For most clients in Australia, nothing changes as the large majority of advertisers on Snapchat do not target ads to our community who are under 16 years old. However, for the small minority of advertisers who do target ads to those under 16, this change means that you will no longer be able to do so from December 10.

There is no action required by advertisers to comply with the targeting updates. However, advertisers are still responsible for complying with applicable regulatory and self-regulatory requirements.

This legislation does not impact the Minimum Age Requirements that continue to apply for certain products and services.

Snapchat is and remains brand safe

Across Snapchat, we have built safety into the fundamental architecture of our platform, including our Ads offerings, and have a long-standing commitment to providing a healthy and brand safe experience for our community and partners. This does not change with the introduction of the SMMA. Ads targeting in Australia will automatically be restricted to users over the age of 16 from 10 December 2025. 

Advertisers continue to have the ability to change their targeting and have control over their content adjacency knowing our team will ensure this adheres to all local laws and regulations.

Our focus will remain on providing the very best and most brand safe experience to millions of Aussies on Snapchat, so from our team to yours, we want to say thanks for partnering with us through these changes.