Australias House of Representatives passes bill that would ban young children from social media

Australia’s House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would ban children younger than 16 years old from social media, leaving it to the Senate to finalize 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 $33 million for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.The legislation passed 102 to 13.If the bill becomes law this week, the platforms would have one year to work out how to implement the age restrictions before the penalties are enforced.Opposition lawmaker Dan Tehan told Parliament the government had agreed to accept amendments in the Senate that would bolster privacy protections.Platforms would not be allowed to compel users to provide government-issued identity documents including passports or driver’s licenses, nor could they demand digital identification through a government system.“Will it be perfect? No.

But is any law perfect? No, it’s not.But if it helps, even if it helps in just the smallest of ways, it will make a huge difference to people’s lives,” Tehan told Parliament.The bill was introduced to the Senate late Wednesday but it adjourned for the day hours later without putting it to a vote.

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The legislation will likely be passed on Thursday, the Parliament’s final session for the year and potentially the last before elections, which are due within months.The major parties’ support all but guarantees the legislation will pass in the Senate, where no party holds a majority of seats.Lawmakers who were not aligned with either the government or the opposition were most critical of the legislation during debate on Tue...