Australia’s privacy laws have been woefully out of date for a long time – not fit to address the realities of the digital world.

As part of the long overdue update, the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act in 2024 directed the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to develop a code to better protect the privacy of young Australians in the digital world.

This is urgently needed. By the time a child turns 13, around 72 million pieces of data will have been collected about them.

This week, the OAIC published a draft of the Children’s Online Privacy Code, which is now open for public comment.

The code’s scope is much wider than just social media. It encompasses most online services, spaces and platforms that children use. Importantly, it also includes services that may contain children’s personal data but are used by adults.

Everything from educational platforms to infant tracking apps will be subject to the code. The best interests of the child are embedded in it, and services will be expected to interpret and implement it.

This specifies children’s personal data can only be collected by online services where there’s a clear and direct purpose for that collection, and that data should only be kept while it’s necessary to perform that purpose.

Any further data collection requires explicit consent requested in a way that’s age-appropriate for the child.

This ensures........

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