Submission on Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code Implementation

In August 2025, the Senate Environment and Communications Committee conducted an inquiry into the Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code and under-16 social media ban. The terms of reference allowed the Committee to investigate whether these laws undermine privacy and data protection, expand corporate data collection and whether age-verification and content filtering mechanisms are an effective way to keep young people safe online.

The Committee received over 100 submissions from organisations including the Australian Human Rights Commission, AIVL, Scarlet Alliance, Electronic Frontiers Australia, Bloom-ED, Eros Association, Digital Rights Watch, QUT Digital Media Research Centre, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and UNICEF – with these submitters all raising concerns about the effectiveness, accuracy and privacy risks associated with age assurance technologies. Ignoring these concerns, both the social media ban and class 2 codes came into effect as planned in December 2025.