Australia bans use of social media by children under 16 years of age, bill passed by Senate

The Australian Senate on Thursday passed a bill to ban social media for children under the age of 16, and it will soon become the world’s first law. This law will help prevent children under 16 from having accounts on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram and will impose fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($ 33 ​​million) for systemic failures.

The Australian Senate passed the bill by 19 votes out of 34. The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the bill by a huge majority of 102 votes to 13. The House has not yet supported the amendments made by the opposition in the Senate. But this is a formality, as the government has already agreed that this law will be passed.

Social media platforms will have a year to decide how they can implement the ban before the penalty comes into force. Meta Platform, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said that the law has been made ‘in haste’. Digital Industry Group Inc., which advocates for platforms in Australia, said questions remain about the law’s impact on children, its technical foundations and its scope.

The amendments strengthen privacy protections. Platforms will not be allowed to force users to provide government-issued identity documents, including passports or driver’s licenses, nor can they demand digital identity through the government system.

According to the information, the amendments are set to pass in the House on Friday. Critics of the law fear that banning young children on social media will affect the privacy of users who must prove they are older than 16.

While major parties are supporting the ban, many child welfare and mental health advocates are concerned about unintended consequences. Senator David Shoebridge, of the minority Greens party, said mental health experts agreed the ban could dangerously alienate many children who use social media to find support.

The platforms complained that the law would be impractical and urged the Senate to postpone the vote until at least June 2025, when a government assessment of age assurance technologies will report on how young children may be excluded.