Portfolio — 25 March 2026

The Minister for Sport and Communications, Ms Wells, took a significant implementation step under Australia's Social Media Age Restrictions Act on Wednesday, registering updated rules that define precisely which platform features trigger in-scope status [TA-260325-infras-90b8a73b9097]. The rules identify five addictive design features: recommender algorithms built to deliver personalised dopamine hits, endless-feed infinite scroll, engagement feedback mechanisms such as like counts, time-limited disappearing content designed to create urgency, and persistent notifications.

The feature-based definition gives the Act operational teeth — platforms are assessed against specific design characteristics rather than by name alone.

The eSafety Commissioner applied the new rule to 10 major platforms, finding Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and Reddit each in scope by virtue of at least one of the specified features [TA-260325-infras-90b8a73b9097]. Discord, Google Classroom, WhatsApp and Roblox remain out of scope and are unaffected by the updated rule. The inclusion of YouTube and Reddit alongside the more obvious consumer-social platforms is a notable feature of the Commissioner's assessment, given both platforms have previously occupied ambiguous territory in youth-safety debates.

Ms Wells and the eSafety Commissioner are scheduled to provide a compliance update next week, which will be the first public indicator of how platforms are responding to their in-scope designation. That update will be a key watch point for assessing whether the Act's enforcement machinery is functioning as intended.