Reuters. Australia's center-left government introduced a bill in parliament on Thursday (November 21) that aims to ban social media for children under 16 and proposed fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for social media platforms for systemic breaches.
Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce a social media age cut-off, some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date.
The proposals are the highest age limit set by any country, and would have no exemption for parental consent and no exemption for pre-existing accounts.
A number of countries have already vowed to curb social media use by children through legislation, but Australia's policy is one of the most stringent.
France last year proposed a ban on social media for those under 15, but users were able to avoid the ban with parental consent. The United States has for decades required technology companies to seek parental consent to access the data of children under 13.
