Childrens online privacy v online safety Australia stepping up its regulation

The Privacy Reform Implementation and Social Media Taskforce (PRISM) of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is hard at work developing the Children’s Online Privacy Code (Code). Consultations with parents and children are underway and other stakeholders will have their say later this year. Expected at the end of 2025, the draft Code will likely take inspiration from similar regimes in the UK, Ireland and California.

Once issued and registered, likely in 2026, the Code will have the force of law. It will add another layer of protection for children online alongside existing criminal and online safety laws. Each of the three regimes grapples with different aspects of online risk which may result in cyberbullying, grooming, child abuse, sextortion, harassment, emotional harm, self-harm, suicide, exposure to age-inappropriate or violent content, misinformation, disinformation, indoctrination, fraud, screen addiction and other harms.

The Code will strike where harmful data practices such as profiling, recommender systems, and commercialisation of children’s data fail to put the best interest of the child first. The Code might provide fresh interpretation and reaffirm certain rooted privacy concepts where the historic interpretation of the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) fails to do so. Acting in the best interest of the child will often mean doing right by the individual over the business.

Criminal law not coming to the rescue …

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