Australia’s social media rules now sit in three layers for brands: platform laws (the under-16 minimum age regime and privacy protections), advertising rules (clear disclosure under the AANA Code of Ethics, with Australian Consumer Law behind it), and money rules (ABN and GST obligations when paying creators). Marketing on Australian platforms in 2026 means complying with all three at once.

The short answer: the platforms carry the age-verification burden, but brands carry four practical duties: disclose every incentivised post clearly and upfront, keep product claims accurate, collect a creator’s ABN before paying them, and know whether they are GST-registered. All four are cheap to do properly and expensive to skip.

Key Takeaways

  • Since December 10, 2025, age-restricted platforms must take reasonable steps to keep under-16s off, with court-imposed fines of up to 150,000 penalty units (about $49.5 million at 2025 unit values) for systemic failures.
  • Every paid or gifted collaboration must be clearly labelled as advertising under section 2.7 of the AANA Code of Ethics; vague tags like #sp or #gifted alone do not cut it.
  • Responsibility for disclosure sits with the creator and the brand, and the ACCC can act against misleading conduct by either.
  • If a creator does not quote an ABN and the payment is over $75, you generally must withhold 47 percent and send it to the ATO.
  • GST applies only when the creator is registered (required from $75,000 turnover); registered creators add 10 percent, which GST-registered brands usually claim back.

What Is the Under-16 Social Media Ban?

The Social Media Minimum Age regime took effect on December 10, 2025. Age-restricted platforms must take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from creating or keeping accounts, with the obligation and penalties sitting entirely on the platforms: court-imposed fines run up to 150,000 penalty units (about $49.5 million at 2025 unit values, and rising as units index) for systemic breaches (eSafety Commissioner).

The restricted list covers the platforms brands actually use: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Threads, X, Reddit, Twitch, Kick, and YouTube (YouTube accounts are restricted, though logged-out viewing still works). There are no penalties for under-16s or their parents; enforcement targets the companies.

For marketers, two consequences matter. First, Australian social campaigns are now built for verified 16+ audiences, so briefs and targeting that leaned on young teens have had to pivot. Second, the aggressive account verification purged large numbers of underage and unverifiable accounts, which trimmed some follower counts but left cleaner, adult, purchasable audiences behind, a quiet upgrade for anyone measuring campaigns honestly.

What Privacy Rules Affect Social Campaigns?

Alongside the age regime, anti-doxxing legislation makes maliciously releasing someone’s personal data online a criminal offence, and broader privacy reforms keep tightening how personal information is collected and handled.

For campaigns, the practical exposure is incidental: strangers’ faces, home addresses, number plates, or workplaces caught in the background of creator content. Build a habit of reviewing content for identifiable third parties before it ships, and make it part of the brief.

What Are the Disclosure Rules for Influencer Marketing?

Disclosure is the rule brands trip on most, and it is simple: under section 2.7 of the AANA Code of Ethics, advertising must be clearly distinguishable as advertising. Any material connection triggers it, payment, free or discounted product, affiliate commission, gifts, travel, or event tickets, not just cash. Ad Standards administers the Code and reviews complaints.

What counts as clear:

  1. Acceptable labels: “Ad”, “Advertisement”, “Sponsored”, or “Paid Partnership”, placed where followers see them immediately: early in a caption, on each story frame, early in a video.
  2. Not sufficient on their own: vague or buried tags like #sp, #spon, #gifted, #collab, or #ambassador, and anything hidden below the fold.

Responsibility runs both ways. Creators are expected to disclose, but the advertiser carries responsibility under the Code, and the ACCC can act against misleading conduct by either party under Australian Consumer Law, which also makes brands answerable for claims in posts they incentivise. The safe pattern is contractual: make clear disclosure and accurate claims written conditions of every collaboration, which is covered in influencer contracts and usage rights.

The upside brands underrate: clear disclosure costs nothing with audiences. Labels are so normal now that they barely register, and the brands that make news are the ones caught hiding the relationship.

Do Influencers Need an ABN, and Why Should Brands Care?

Creators operating as a business should have an Australian Business Number, and it matters to you as the payer. If a supplier does not quote an ABN and the payment exceeds $75 (excluding GST), you are generally required to withhold 47 percent of the payment and send it to the ATO.

The operational fix is to collect the ABN during creator onboarding, before any payment is scheduled, alongside bank details and GST status. One line in your onboarding form removes the whole problem, and it doubles as a professionalism check: an established creator has an ABN ready. Creators are engaged as independent contractors running their own businesses, never as employees, and the paperwork should reflect that.

Do You Pay GST on Influencer Fees?

Only when the creator is GST-registered. Registration is required once turnover reaches $75,000 a year, so established creators and talent agencies typically charge 10 percent GST on top of their fee, while smaller creators under the threshold may not charge it at all.

If your business is GST-registered, you can usually claim the GST back as an input tax credit, so the real cost is cash flow rather than spend. Budget fees GST-inclusive, confirm each creator’s GST status up front, and insist on proper tax invoices. When an agency runs the campaign, creator invoicing and the paperwork trail are part of the service; fee structures are covered in our influencer marketing cost guide.

What Should Brands Actually Do About All This?

The whole compliance load reduces to five habits:

  1. Target and brief for 16+ audiences. The under-age audience is gone from the platforms; make sure it is gone from your personas too.
  2. Write disclosure and claims accuracy into every contract. The label protects you; the claims clause protects you twice.
  3. Collect ABN and GST status at onboarding. Before the first payment, not after.
  4. Review content for third-party privacy. Faces and details in the background are your problem once you amplify the content.
  5. Vet creators for disclosure history. A creator who labels properly today saves you an Ad Standards complaint tomorrow; it is part of the vetting checklist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are parents fined if their under-16 child uses social media?

No. The obligations and penalties fall on the platforms, not on children or parents. Brands are unaffected directly, beyond the shift to verified adult audiences.

Does the under-16 ban apply to YouTube?

Yes, YouTube is on the age-restricted list, so under-16s cannot hold accounts. Logged-out viewing still works, which keeps YouTube usable as a reach channel while its account-based features stay adult-only.

Does gifting product count as advertising?

Yes, when there is an understanding the creator will post. Free or discounted product, travel, and event tickets are material connections under the AANA Code, so the resulting content needs the same clear disclosure as a paid post.

What happens if a post skips disclosure?

Ad Standards can uphold complaints under the Code, the ACCC can pursue misleading conduct under Australian Consumer Law, and the reputational cost usually outruns both. Make disclosure a written condition of every collaboration so the question never comes up.

Compliance Is a Process, Not a Risk

None of these rules is hard to follow; they are only hard to retrofit. Build disclosure, claims accuracy, ABN collection, and GST checks into your standard campaign process once, and every campaign after inherits it. That process is built into every campaign we manage, from contracts through labelling to the invoice trail; our influencer marketing agency page covers how it works, and the influencer marketing FAQ answers the related legal and tax questions brands ask.

This article is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules change and depend on your circumstances; check the ATO and Ad Standards for current requirements and speak with a qualified professional before acting.

Sources