AU OSA Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 5 - Cyber-bullying material targeted at an Australian child: s 6 (definition), s 6…
Comply with the cyberbullying removal scheme by removing cyberbullying material within 24 hours of an eSafety Commissioner removal notice
Where this comes from
Provision: Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 5 - Cyber-bullying material targeted at an Australian child: s 6 (definition), s 65 (removal notice to the provider), s 70 (end-user notice)
Instrument: Australia Online Safety Act 2021
Citation: Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), s 6 (definition, with the s 6(4) position-of-authority carve-out), s 30 (complaints to the Commissioner), s 65 (removal notice given to the provider), s 70 (end-user notice), s 67 (civil penalty); Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022 (Cth), ss 11(a), 13 (report mechanisms)
Text version: Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), compilation of 12 September 2026 (includes the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 and Act No. 83 of 2026, whose title and commencement were not established from the retrieved text), and Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022, compilation of 31 May 2024 (includes the Amendment (No. 1) Determination 2024); both retrieved from legislation.gov.au on 2026-09-21.
Who it applies to
Likely accessed by children — all of these:
- Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18
User-to-user interaction surface (any) — any one of these:
- Service allows user-generated content
- Service enables direct messaging between users
- Users can create public profiles
…unless:
- Material posted by a person in a position of authority over an Australian child, in the lawful exercise of that authority, where the posting is reasonable action taken in a reasonable manner, is taken not to be cyber-bullying material targeted at the child. (Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), s 6(4))
What engineering work it implies
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Implementation or documented process meets the reviewed acceptance criteria; identify the tested version and deployment status separately
- Configure defaults from the assessed source and purpose; do not enable data collection or processing merely because this task exists
- Validate behavior for the assessed actors and use cases, including applicable guest or administrator paths
- UI clearly communicates what the feature does to users
- API returns appropriate error codes when feature blocks an action
Questions people ask
- Does AU OSA Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 5 - Cyber-bullying material targete… apply to my service?
- It applies when Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18; and at least one of: Service allows user-generated content; Service enables direct messaging between users; Users can create public profiles. It does not apply where Material posted by a person in a position of authority over an Australian child, in the lawful exercise of that authority, where the posting is reasonable action taken in a reasonable manner, is taken not to be cyber-bullying material targeted at the child. (Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), s 6(4)).
- From when does this apply?
- AU OSA Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), Part 5 - Cyber-bullying material targete… applies from 23 January 2022. Its current status is: in force.
Find out whether this one lands on you
Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.
Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.