On 23 January 2022, the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) (OSA 2021) and the Online Safety (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2021 (Cth) ) (OSTPCAA 2021) commenced. The new legislation introduces wide-ranging and significant reforms to Australia’s online safety regulatory framework including tough new compliance and enforcement measures for online service providers. 

The OSA 2021, alongside the OSTPCAA 2021, consolidate the prior online safety legislation to create a more streamlined and comprehensive regulatory framework for the protection of Australians from online harm. Practical Law’s new resources on the OSA 2021 provide an overview of the application, scope, requirements and compliance and enforcement provisions, of the new online safety regime including the various online schemes implemented under the legislation which include the online content scheme, and also the schemes for cyberbullying, adult cyber abuse, image-based abuse and new powers to address abhorrent violent conduct material.

Practical Law Commercial is pleased to share with subscribers the following new suite of resources on the OSA 2021:

• Legal update, Australia's new Online Safety Act implements tougher compliance burden for online service providers. This update provides an overview of the reforms introduced under the new regime including highlighting the new compliance requirements for online service providers and includes links to Practical Law's suite of resources on the OSA 2021.
• Practice note, Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth), provides a background to, and general overview of, the application and scope of the OSA 2021 including an overview of the expanded regulatory and enforcement functions of the eSafety Commissioner and the requirements, and compliance and enforcement provisions related to the new Basic Online Safety Expectations (BOSE).
• Practice note, Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth): scheme for cyberbullying targeted at Australian children (OSA Cyberbullying scheme), which outlines the requirements and compliance and enforcement provisions, related to the regulation of cyberbullying targeting Australian children under the OSA 2021.
• Practice note, Online Safety Act 2021: scheme for cyber abuse targeted at Australian adults (OSA Cyber abuse scheme), which outlines the requirements, and compliance and enforcement provisions, related to the regulation of cyber abuse targeting Australian adults under the OSA 2021.
• Practice note, Online Safety Act 2021: scheme for image-based abuse (OSA Image-based abuse scheme), which outlines the requirements, and compliance and enforcement provisions, related to the regulation of image-based abuse under the OSA 2021.
• Practice note, Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth): online content scheme (OSA Online content scheme), which outlines the requirements, and compliance and enforcement provisions, related to the new online content scheme under the OSA 2021.
• Practice note, Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth): abhorrent violent conduct material (OSA Abhorrent violent conduct material), which outlines the powers of the eSafety Commissioner to issue blocking requests and notices under the OSA 2021 in relation to abhorrent violent conduct material.