Warning: This story contains references to sexual content, self-harm, and disordered eating.

Australians will need to prove they are over the age of 18 when accessing pornographic websites from 9 March 2026, under new industry codes registered Tuesday by the eSafety Commissioner.

Services hosting online porn must provide “appropriate age assurance measures” when the codes take effect in six months’ time, or face potential civil penalties from the regulator in the millions of dollars.

Similar age assurance technologies will be used by platforms to prevent under-16s from accessing social media under the government’s forthcoming ban in December, and to check a user’s age when they are logged into a search engine from later that same month.

Stricter rules on accessing online pornography have been floated by governments for several years, but age assurance technologies were not previously considered accurate enough by lawmakers and regulators.

Such technologies can include age verification systems, which typically rely on government documents or ID; age estimation systems, which use biometrics; and age inference systems, which use online activity or account data to infer a person’s age.

The federal government commissioned a trial of such technologies in 2024, which found age assurance could be done effectively in Australia despite no solution being infallible and some systems raising privacy and data retention concerns.

The new industry codes required service providers to not use or share Australians’ personal information in a way which would breach privacy laws, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.

“In determining appropriate age assurance measures to take under any code, services are also required to consider if those measures are compliant with privacy laws and whether the impact on user privacy is proportionate to the safety objectives,” she added.

Any company covered by the new codes “must also take appropriate steps to test and monitor the effectiveness of its age assurance and access control measures over time", according to the new rules.

Age checks to access online porn have already been implemented for sites accessed in the United Kingdom, in some European Union nations, and in many jurisdictions in the United States.

Canadian pornography giant Aylo — which runs major sites such as Pornhub and YouPorn — introduced age assurance methods in the UK in July to comply with new online safety laws in that country, including “email-based age estimation, credit card age checks, mobile network operator age checks and open banking, and, as of August 5, Google Wallet”, according to the company.

However, some UK residents have used Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and facial recognition tricks to get around the new age checks.

eSafety goes after ‘lawful but awful’ material

The six new codes registered by Australia's eSafety Commissioner were co-developed with industry organisations and aimed to protect children from exposure to a range of “lawful but awful” content, including pornography, self-harm, and high-impact violence, Inman Grant said.

Development of the codes began in July 2024 and involved several industry groups: the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), the Communications Alliance, the Consumer Electronic Suppliers Association, Digital Industry Group Inc. (DIGI), and the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA).

Inman Grant said her office would be responsible for enforcing the codes “to protect children from accidental exposure to content they are not cognitively ready to process and certainly cannot ‘unsee’”.

“We know this is already happening to kids from our own research, with one in three young people telling us that their first encounter with pornography was before the age of 13,” she said.

“And this exposure was ‘frequent, accidental, unavoidable and unwelcome’, with many describing this exposure as being disturbing and ‘in your face’."


Age checks have already been implemented for pornographic sites accessed in the UK, some EU countries, and many US states. Image: Shutterstock

DIGI, which counts the likes of Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, TikTok, and Twitch among its members, said the new codes were “a major milestone in creating a safer online environment for all Australians”.

"The registration of the codes shows what can be achieved when industry and government work together on safeguarding the community against online harms,” said Dr Jennifer Duxbury, DIGI’s director of policy, regulatory affairs, and research.

"It's vital the rules that apply to the online world keep pace with changes in the threat landscape.”

Australia's adult entertainment association Eros was contacted for comment.

AI chatbots, app stores told to protect kids

To prevent children from accessing adult content on other platforms, the new codes would also apply to AI chatbots, app stores, hardware manufacturers, social media services, and other designated internet services, Inman Grant said.

“Under these new codes, app stores will have to make sure that apps are appropriately rated and that there are appropriate age assurance measures before permitting users to download or purchase apps rated as 18+,” she said.

The commissioner said she was concerned by “a recent proliferation” of unregulated AI companion chatbots — some of which have allegedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with minors, or encouraged self-harm or disordered eating.

“As with other forms of online pornography, there is a danger that excessive, sexualised engagement with AI companions could interfere with children’s social and emotional development, setting up misguided or harmful beliefs and patterns that are damaging to individuals or relationships in real life,” Inman Grant said.

“We’ve also seen recent reports of where AI chatbots have allegedly encouraged suicidal ideation and self-harm in conversations with kids with tragic consequences.”

US company OpenAI recently pledged to make further improvements to its ChatGPT service following the death of a teenager who discussed much of his life with the popular AI chatbot.

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