Social ads
for education.

The social media minimum age covers Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch and others. From 10 December 2025 those platforms had to deactivate under-16 accounts and block new ones. Under-16s can still view some public content without logging in.

The fines fall on platforms, up to $49.5 million for systemic breaches, not on schools, students or parents. For a marketer the change is simple: most students in Years 7 to 10 aren't allowed accounts, so you can't target them there. For a school, a Year 7 intake or a junior music program, the audience on social is the parent.

Meta has limited teen targeting since 2023. Advertisers can only use age and location to reach teens, gender was removed, and teens' likes and follows don't shape the ads they see. There's no interest audience for 'nursing' or 'game design' among Year 12s. The creative has to find its own audience.

TikTok publishes the targeting limits that apply when an audience includes under-18s: no interest, gender or income targeting, and no lead generation objective. It lists those limits for North America, Latin America, Europe, the UK, Indonesia and Turkey. When checked on 2 November 2026, Australia's only entry was the under-16 block, so read the page again before you plan. It changes.

Pick who you want to reach and the platform. The check says what's allowed and what to do instead, based on the rules as published on 2 November 2026.

Meta's ad standards don't allow ads that assert or imply a viewer's personal attributes, including age, vulnerable financial status, physical or mental health, disability and criminal record. Education ads trip on this more often than you'd expect, because so much course marketing talks about the reader's situation. The fix is to describe the course or the option, not the person. The examples below are mine, written to show the pattern. The first two point at a listed attribute; the last two aren't on Meta's list but may still read as personal, so they're worth softening.

Short formats lose detail, but the rules don't shrink. Under the TEQSA Act it's an offence to use the word 'university' without being registered in a category that allows it, or to offer or advertise a degree without being a registered higher education provider. RTO ads still need the codes and course details covered on the RTO rules page. Ads for overseas students need your CRICOS name and number, and must not promise migration outcomes.

Put the long version on the landing page, and keep the ad true on its own. 'Become a nurse' on an ad for a health services assistance certificate is the kind of line that reads fine in a meeting and misleads on a phone.

Student-made video is what prospective students want to see, and it's where consumer law catches up with education. The ACCC says businesses are responsible for posts they give influencers incentives to make, and for misleading comments others leave on their pages. In its 2023 sweep, 81% of the 118 influencers it reviewed made posts that raised concerns, most often undisclosed brand relationships.

If an ambassador gets a fee discount, merchandise or payment for posting, say so in the post. Don't script them to claim experiences they haven't had. And moderate the comments on your ads: a misleading reply under your ad is treated as yours.

Nielsen tracked $175.5 million in ad spend by Australian tertiary providers in the year to June 2024, with social media taking 60%. That's a crowded feed. In January and February your ad competes with every uni, TAFE and college in the country.

Use social for what it does best: showing what studying with you looks like, to people who weren't searching yet, and reaching parents. Let search catch the people ready to apply. The Google Ads page covers that side, with the 2026 ATAR dates.