Australia enacts world's first law banning social media for those under 16

The Australian government on Friday passed the world’s first law banning the use of social media for those under 16. 

The bill became law after it was passed Thursday in the Australian parliament's Senate. Afterward, the House, after already having passed the measure, agreed to amendments from the upper chamber. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the law supported parents concerned by online harms to their children.

“Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them,” Albanese told reporters.

The new law will make major social media platforms like X, TikTok, Facebook, and Snapchat responsible for ensuring individuals under 16 years of age cannot hold accounts on their sites or in their apps. Any failure to do so could expose the companies to fines up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million), according to the Associated Press. 

The law gives social media platforms one year to devise a way to enforce the ban before fines can be imposed for noncompliance. 

“The core focus of this legislation is simple: It demands that social media companies take reasonable steps to identify and remove underage users from their platforms,” Liberal Party Senator Maria Kovacic told her colleagues, according to AP. 

“This is a responsibility these companies should have been fulfilling long ago, but for too long they have shirked these responsibilities in favor of profit,” she said.

Some critics warned ban those under 16 from social media may have unintended negative effects, such as depriving them of a sense of connection.

The amendments added by the Senate and to which the House agreed aim to protect users' privacy that included a restriction on social media companies from requiring government-issued identity documents for age verification. Leadership has signaled that the amended bill will pass, the wire service also reports.