Australia’s House of Representatives passed a bill to ban children younger than 16 years old from social media. If it passes, the law would be a world first.

The Australian government’s plan to ban children from social media to protect them from harm has won almost universal political support

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 Australian government won’t proceed with legislation that would have forced social media sites to crack down on misinformation on their platforms after failing to win enough cross-party support.Most Read from BloombergNYC's Underground Steam System May Be Key to a Greener FutureNYC Gets Historic Push for 80,

SYDNEY (Reuters) - 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.

An advocate for major social media platforms has told Australia’s Parliament that a plan to ban children younger than 16 from the sites should be delayed rather than being rushed to approval this week

Australia’s plan to ban social media for children under the age of 16 is expected to pass parliament within days after it was signed off in a truncated Senate inquiry, even as lawmakers from across the political divide expressed discomfort at the “rushed” nature of the bills.

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.

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.