Australian politicians pass bill that would ban young children from social media

The major parties’ support all but guarantees the legislation will be passed by the Senate (PA)

Australia’s House of Representatives have passed a bill that would ban children younger than 16 years old from social media, leaving it to the Senate to finalise the world-first law.

The major parties backed the bill that would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (£26 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.