Australia’s House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban children younger than 16 years from social media.

Australia Senate Committee Backs Bill to Ban Social Media for Children By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian Senate committee has backed a bill that would ban social media for children under 16 but said social media platforms should not force ...

Google and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms urged the Australian government on Tuesday to delay a bill that will ban most forms of social media for children under 16, saying more time was needed to assess its potential impact.

The Australian government’s plan to ban children from social media platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram until their 16th birthdays is politically popular. The opposition party says it would have done the same after winning elections due within months if the government hadn’t moved first.

Global tech giants including Meta, TikTok and Google have heavily criticized Australian legislation to ban children under 16 from accessing social media platforms, setting the stage for a policy fight as the government tries to push the bill through parliament this week.

The Australian government is threatening multimillion dollar fines for social companies that breach a proposed ban on children under 16 from using their service.

The legislation would impose fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) on platforms for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.

Tech companies are urging Australia's government to delay its proposed social media ban for under-16s amid criticism that the bill is being rushed into law. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's center-left government introduced the bill in parliament last week and aims to pass it by the end of the parliamentary year on Thursday,

Australia's proposal to ban under-16s from social media platforms is "rushed", social media companies claimed Tuesday, expressing "serious concerns" about potential unintended consequences.

Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday social media firms would be required to destroy personal data used to verify ages of users, as part of what the government says is a world-leading ban on under-16s using the services.