Evaluation report
Impact of the Social Media Minimum Age on Australian young people and parents: protocol for a mixed-methods evaluation.
Stevic A, Chen YA, Lee AY, Liu XS, Smith-Russack ZD et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001Australia implemented a world-first law in December 2025 requiring social media platforms to prevent under-16s from creating accounts. This study protocol describes a mixed-methods evaluation involving over 4,000 young people aged 10-16 and their parents to examine how young people respond to account deactivation, how it affects their digital practices and well-being, and its impact on families and community attitudes. The evaluation will use surveys, smartphone tracking, health and educational data, interviews and focus groups across five waves, with statistical analyses including causal inference methods. Results will inform policy implementation in Australia and other countries considering similar age restrictions.
Key points
- Approximately 1,194,000 young people in Australia were affected by the social media minimum age restriction for under-16s
- The evaluation involves 4,121 young people and their parents in a five-wave longitudinal design
- Data collection includes multiple methods: surveys, passive smartphone tracking, administrative data linkage, interviews and focus groups
- Analysis will examine adherence (account removal experiences and bypass attempts), digital practices, physical/psychological/social well-being, family impacts and community attitudes
- Targeted maximum likelihood estimation will be used to evaluate causal effects of adherence on outcomes such as psychosocial well-being and distress
Limitations
This is a protocol paper describing planned evaluation methods, not results. The document cannot tell us what the actual outcomes of the policy will be, how effective the age-restriction is in practice, or what the real impacts on young people's well-being are—these findings will only emerge when data collection and analysis are complete.
Abstract
Introduction Australia implemented the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (Cth; SMMA) on 10 December 2025. This policy represents a world-first social media age-restriction, which requires age-restricted social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under the age of 16 from creating or keeping an account. Preliminary estimates suggest that approximately 1 194 000 young people should be affected by the deactivation of accounts. As the SMMA is enacted, we are collecting data to examine the outcomes for young people, parents and families. This study protocol paper serves as a summary of the methodological design for the evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of the SMMA, including (a) young people's adherence, and the SMMA's impact on (b) their digital practices; (c) their physical, psychological and social well-being; (d) their families and (e) community attitudes and dynamics. Adherence refers to a participant's experience of account removal/deactivation and any attempts to bypass or circumvent those restrictions. The term is used solely for brevity, and we acknowledge that children and parents are not subject to legal obligations under the SMMA. Methods and analysis To evaluate the impact of the SMMA implementation, a mixed-methods approach is being undertaken, involving 4121 young people aged 10 to 16 years and their parents or caregivers. Data collection involves five-wave longitudinal parent-child surveys, opt-in passive smartphone tracking, administrative linked and non-linked health and educational data, qualitative interviews and focus groups. We will conduct descriptive analyses examining frequencies, average values, percentages, factor analysis and reliability of scales for each survey wave. Various analytical approaches (eg, logistic regressions, multi-level modelling, random-intercept cross-lagged panel model) may be used to understand both between-person and within-person changes pre- and post-implementation of the SMMA. For causal inference analyses, we will employ targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) as our primary strategy to evaluate the effect of young people's adherence to the SMMA on key outcomes, such as psychosocial well-being and distress. Qualitative data will be analysed using a combination of thematic analysis and structured coding approaches. This will include iterative analysis of open-ended survey responses and in-depth qualitative data from interviews, focus groups and related tasks to identify key themes, patterns and lived experiences. Ethics and dissemination The study received ethical approval from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) Human Research Ethics Committee (application approval number 2025/06) and complies with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research. All participants provided informed consent at the beginning of the baseline survey and in each subsequent wave. Only parents and young people who provided their consent were eligible to take part in the study. Findings from this evaluation will inform national policy oversight and implementation in Australia, contribute empirical evidence to international debates and inform other countries considering similar age-based regulation of social media. Results will be disseminated through public-facing reports, peer-reviewed publications and stakeholder engagement activities to support evidence-informed decision-making in digital safety regulation in Australia and internationally.