Australian Senate Passes Worlds-First Social Media Ban for Children Under 16

Melbourne: The Australian Senate on Thursday, approved a groundbreaking law that will ban social media for young children, making it the first of its kind in the world.

The law will hold platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, and Instagram accountable, imposing fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for failing to prevent children under 16 from creating accounts.

The Senate passed the bill with 34 votes in favour to 19 against.

Earlier on Wednesday, Australia's House of Representatives approved the same bill, with 102 votes in favor and 13 against.

Opposition lawmaker Dan Tehan informed Parliament that the government had agreed to adopt Senate amendments that would strengthen privacy protections. Under the new provisions, platforms would be prohibited from requiring users to submit government-issued identity documents, such as passports or driver's licenses, and could not mandate digital identification through a government system.

"Will it be perfect? No. But is any law perfect? No, it's not. But if it helps, even if it helps in just the smallest of ways, it will make a huge difference to people's lives," Tehan said in Parliament.

The House has yet to endorse opposition amendments made in the Senate. But that is a formality since the government has already agreed they will pass.

The platforms will have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced.

(with agency inputs)