Australia passes landmark ruling banning social media for children under 16 years

New Delhi, Nov 28: Australian lawmakers passed landmark rules to ban under-16s from social media on Thursday, approving one of the world's toughest crackdowns on popular sites like Facebook, Instagram and X.

A report quoted by NDTV said that the bill has now passed both parliamentary chambers with bipartisan support, and social media firms will soon be expected to take "reasonable steps" to prevent young teens from having accounts.

The firms -- who face fines of up to Aus$50 million (US$32.5 million) for failing to comply -- have described the laws as "vague", "problematic" and "rushed".

The legislation passed parliament's lower chamber on Wednesday and passed the Senate late on Thursday evening. It is now all but certain to become law.

Centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, eyeing an election early next year, has enthusiastically championed the new rules and rallied Aussie parents to get behind it.

In the run up to the vote, he painted social media as "a platform for peer pressure, a driver of anxiety, a vehicle for scammers and, worst of all, a tool for online predators".

He wanted, he said, young Australians "off their phones and onto the footy and cricket field, the tennis and netball courts, in the swimming pool".

Social media expert however said that digital literacy programmes that teach children to think "critically" about what they see online should be adopted -- similar to a model used in Finland.

The legislation will be closely monitored by other countries, with many weighing whether to implement similar bans.

Lawmakers from Spain to Florida have proposed social media bans for young teens, although none of the measures have been implemented yet.

China has restricted access for minors since 2021, with under-14s not allowed to spend more than 40 minutes a day on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Online gaming time for children is also limited in China.