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.

Social media platforms will be given one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced.

Australian Senate passes world-first social media ban for children under 16, holding platforms accountable with hefty fines.

The Australian Senate has passed a social media ban for children under 16 years old that will soon become a world-first law.

SYDNEY: Australia on Thursday (Nov 28) passed into law a social media ban for children aged under 16 after an emotive debate that gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world w

Australia has passed into law a social media ban for children aged under 16 after an emotive debate that gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.

Social media firms will soon be expected to take “reasonable steps” to prevent young teens from having accounts.

Multiple opinion polls have shown the vast majority of Australian voters are supportive of the new laws in principle, with a YouGov survey released on Tuesday finding 77% were in favour of the ban.