This paper reviews the impacts of social media use on young people and then explores trends in how they use social media. It analyses the associations between social media use and academic outcomes and skills. It discusses how policy can support young people in making the most of social media’s many opportunities, while protecting them.

Children today are growing up online. This report offers a snapshot of how children aged 10 to 17 in Australia are navigating it. The report explores children’s online participation; the impact of online participation on children; behaviours that may increase exposure to online harm; and strategies and sources of knowledge for keeping safe online.

This report is based on a representative survey of Australians aged 10 to 17 conducted in February 2026. It examines the impact of Australia's teen social media ban on young people’s news engagement, just two months after the legislation took effect. As the ban affects more young people, it finds that their news engagement will...

A status report highlighting what is known to date about the implementation of the Social Media Minimum Age obligation since it took effect. It shows there has been some progress in the first three months, including large scale account removals. However, insights from a range of sources show major gaps remain.

This report provides early insights into children's experiences of Australia's social media age restrictions from the perspective of parents and carers. Despite overall reductions in account ownership, a substantial proportion of children under 16 retained accounts on age‑restricted platforms. Platform‑led deactivation was the main reason children no longer had accounts on age‑restricted social media platforms.