Social media marketing in Australia: the under-16 rule, the disclosure code, and how to choose an agency
What changed for Australian social campaigns in December 2025, the consumer, spam and privacy rules an agency should already know, and how to brief and judge a social media company in Sydney, Perth or anywhere else.
Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 22 October 2026
Social media marketing in Australia now runs under one rule most other countries do not have: since 10 December 2025, the big platforms must take reasonable steps to stop Australians under 16 from holding accounts. Add the advertising code that says ads must be clearly recognisable, the ACCC's line on fake reviews, and the Spam Act for anything sent by message, and you have the checklist an Australian social media agency should bring to the first meeting. Then judge the agency on three things: which of the three social jobs it is doing for you, whose name the ad accounts are in, and whether it reports cost per result rather than likes.
This guide covers the rules first, because they shape the plan, and then how to brief and compare social media marketing companies across Australia.
The under-16 rule, and what it means for a campaign
The eSafety Commissioner's social media minimum age FAQ says that as of 10 December 2025, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X and YouTube are required to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from having accounts. It lists services eSafety does not currently consider age-restricted, including Discord, Messenger, Pinterest, Roblox, WhatsApp and YouTube Kids, and says these lists may change. It also says eSafety can seek penalties of up to $109.2 million from platforms that do not take reasonable steps.
The obligation sits with the platforms, not with advertisers. But it changes the plan for any brand whose customers include teenagers:
- Youth brands lose a channel. Fashion, gaming, snacks, music and events that relied on teen accounts need a different route: parents, schools and clubs, in-store activity, or platforms outside the list, each checked against its own ad rules.
- Audience reports shift. Expect the age data inside the platforms to change as accounts are removed, and do not compare this year's audience figures with older ones without saying so.
- Creators with young followings matter less. Ask an agency proposing a creator what share of that creator's Australian audience is under 16, and how it knows.
The disclosure and honesty rules
The AANA Code of Ethics, effective from 1 February 2021, says in section 2.7 that advertising shall be clearly distinguishable as such. Its practice note warns that advertising should not be disguised as news, independent research or user-generated content. Complaints under the code are decided by the Ad Standards Community Panel. For paid creator posts, gifted products and the hashtags to use, our guide to Australian influencer agencies goes through the Ad Standards disclosure guide in detail.
The law sits behind the code. The ACCC's guidance on online reviews says it is against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so. That covers fake comments, planted testimonials and staff posing as customers. An agency that offers to "seed" positive reviews is offering you the risk.
Prices in social ads follow the same rules as everywhere else. The ACCC's price display guidance says businesses must display a total price as a single figure, including taxes, duties and all unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees. A carousel ad showing a price without a mandatory booking fee is a problem however small the font.
Messages, lists and privacy
Social campaigns often end in a message: a lead form, an SMS follow-up, an email newsletter sign-up. The ACMA's guide to avoiding spam says you need consent from each person before you send marketing emails or messages, even when someone else sends them for you. Each message must identify your business, carry your contact details and offer an unsubscribe that is honoured within 5 working days. You cannot send a message to ask for consent, because that message is itself marketing.
Customer lists uploaded for targeting raise privacy questions. The OAIC says the Privacy Act 1988 regulates how Australian Government agencies and organisations with annual turnover of more than $3 million, and some other organisations, handle personal information, through 13 Australian Privacy Principles. The OAIC's statement on the 2024 amendment bill lists a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy, new tiers of civil penalties, a Children's Online Privacy Code to be developed by the OAIC, and a requirement that privacy policies describe substantially automated decisions that significantly affect people. Ask your agency how customer data is uploaded, who can see it, and whether your privacy policy covers it.
The three jobs sold as social media marketing
| Job | What it involves | How to judge it |
|---|---|---|
| Paid social | Ads in Meta Ads Manager, TikTok Ads Manager or LinkedIn Campaign Manager, with targeting, creative tests and tracking | Cost per result and sales or enquiries by source |
| Organic and community | Posting, replying to comments and messages, and keeping the profiles current | Response time, saves and shares, and enquiries that start in messages |
| Creator campaigns | Finding, contracting and briefing creators, and checking disclosure | Results against a brief agreed before the posts, and disclosure on every post |
Many Australian agencies do one well and sell all three. Ask which one they are proposing, and ask to see a current client account for that job, with the client's permission.
Sydney, Perth and the rest of the country
The rules above are national, so a social media agency in any city can run an Australian campaign. What differs by city is the audience and the working day.
- Sydney. The 2021 Census counts 5,231,147 people in Greater Sydney, and the metro behaves like several markets. A Facebook ad for a Northern Beaches business and one for Parramatta should be separate ad sets with their own locations and creative.
- Perth. Greater Perth had 2,116,647 people in the 2021 Census. Perth is two or three hours behind the eastern states depending on daylight saving, so if the agency is in Sydney or Melbourne, agree who replies to comments and messages during Perth evenings, when many people scroll.
- Everywhere. Schedule posts and community replies to your customers' clock, not the agency's.
How to choose a social media marketing company in Australia
- Verify the business. Look it up on ABN Lookup and check the entity matches the trading name.
- Own the accounts. The Business Manager, ad accounts, pixel and pages belong to your business, with the agency given access. If the agency owns them, your history leaves with it.
- Name the people. Who writes, who designs, who runs the ads, who replies to messages, and how many hours each.
- Get the compliance answer. Ask how they handle the under-16 rule, AANA 2.7 disclosure and spam consent. A good agency answers without looking it up.
- Compare like with like. Send the same brief to three firms and compare the first ninety days of deliverables against the fee and the minimum term.
Questions about social media marketing in Australia
Do businesses get fined under the under-16 rule?
The obligation in eSafety's FAQ is on the age-restricted platforms to take reasonable steps, and the penalties it describes are for platform providers. A business should still plan as if teenagers are not reachable on those platforms.
Is a social media agency in Sydney better than one in Perth?
Not by location alone. Choose on the job you need, the people on your account and how well they know your customers. Make sure someone covers replies in your customers' time zone.
Do we need consent to message people who followed our page?
Following a page is not one of the ways of giving express consent that the ACMA lists, which are a form, a tick box on a website, over the phone or face to face. Collect consent one of those ways before sending emails or SMS, and keep a record of who gave it, when and how, as the ACMA guide says.
Can we reuse customer reviews in our ads?
Yes, if they are genuine, unedited in meaning and from real customers. Copying or rewriting testimonials is the kind of conduct the ACCC has taken action on.
When can we judge whether social is working?
Agree the measures before the first post: cost per result in Ads Manager, enquiries or sales by source in your own system, and messages that turn into bookings. Read them monthly against your starting point. The outcome depends on competition, your offer and your budget.
The recommendation that happens off the feed
An Australian who sees your ad on Instagram often checks you somewhere else before buying, and more of those checks are now a question to ChatGPT or Gemini: is this brand any good, what is a better option. The answer comes from reviews, press and pages, not from your follower count, and it can name a competitor. AI Knows Us works in that newer category: it asks those questions about a brand across the main assistants and shows which names and sources come back. For search work across the states, see our guide to SEO companies in Australia.