Unsafe online behaviour can have long-lasting consequences, both for an individual engaging in the behaviour and the community around them. Families should be aware of the legislation that criminalises certain unsafe behaviour online has the potential to impact students and the education community, regardless of whether the incident occurs on school grounds.

Supporting legislation

In 2025, the South Australian Government introduced several pieces of legislation to target unsafe behaviour online.

Posting and boasting

The Summary Offences (Prohibition of Publication of Certain Material) Amendment Bill 2025, which criminalises the sharing or publication of material depicting criminal conduct in order to glorify or promote the depicted conduct-known as ‘posting and boasting’.

Posting and boasting can encourage copycats of the depicted criminal conduct and escalate violent behaviour. These acts go beyond bullying, potentially causing long-lasting harm for both the persons depicted in the material and the poster.

The law means that any offender over the age of 10 could face up to two years’ imprisonment (or detention in the case of youth offenders) for posting and boasting, even if they have not been charged with the actual offence depicted in the material.

This includes content related to driving offences, violence, unlawful use or possession of weapons, property damage, theft, or trespassing—whether on school grounds or elsewhere.

Deepfakes

Deepfakes are humiliating, degrading or invasive depictions of a person, generated by artificial intelligence. The Summary Offences (Humiliating, Degrading, and Invasive Depictions) Amendment Act 2025 targets the creation, distribution, and threat to distribute deepfake content. Breach of these offences can attract penalties of up to $20,000- or 4-years imprisonment.

The offences require a depiction to be more than “merely embarrassing or insulting”, and do not include depictions which have genuine artistic merit or fall within the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by the community.

School responsibilities

Principals, staff and all members of the education community have a responsibility to mitigate and manage unsafe behaviour online. Schools are required to have a site-specific policy on student use of mobile phones and personal devices which is reviewed regularly and available to all students, staff and families.

Principals who become aware of a student engaging in illegal online behaviour, such as posting and boasting, by law must follow the reporting critical incidents, injuries, hazards and near misses procedure (PDF 681 KB) , which may include contacting the police. This is required regardless of whether the incident was filming during school hours or otherwise.

See Responding to online safety incidents in South Australian schools guidelines (PDF 455 KB) and child safe environments compliance for further information.

Parent, student and family responsibilities

Since 2023, mobile phones and personal devices have been banned in South Australian government schools. Students must keep their devices off and away all day at school except in approved circumstances.

Students should be aware of the potential long-lasting impact of engaging in illegal or unsafe online behaviour, both to them and to others around them. Families are encouraged to engage with the topic of online safety at home, and supporting resources are available, including:

• the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum to assist families in discussing how to use digital technology
• supporting children to use digital technology safely and responsibly
• talking with your child about online risks
• the eSafety Commissioner website.

For general questions or concerns about this policy, contact the department. You can also provide feedback or raise a complaint if you need help resolving an issue.