The Australian Government has also introduced a new bill in the Parliament on Thursday. The aim of this bill is to ban the use of social media for children under the age of 16. Under this, a proposal has been presented to impose a fine of up to 4.95 crore Australian dollars (about Rs 270 crore) on social media platforms for violation. Australia has also become the first country in the world to bring a bill to ban social media for children.

Under this proposal, an age verification system is going to be tested in Australia, which will also include biometrics or government identification cards. This is going to be one of the strictest rules ever imposed by any country. There is going to be no exemption for parental consent or pre-existing accounts. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described this bill as a "historic reform" and said, "We know that some children can find a way around this, but we want to send a message to social media companies that they should fulfill their responsibility.

Impact on social media companies: The proposal could also impact major platforms such as Meta (Instagram and Facebook), ByteDance (TikTok), Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), and Snapchat, although the government clarified that children will be able to use messaging, online gaming, and health and education services such as Headspace (psychological support platform), Google Classroom, and YouTube.

Effect of social media on children: Not only this, the Labor government led by Albanese argued that excessive use of social media can be harmful to the physical and mental health of children. Reports say that nearly two-thirds of Australian children aged 14 to 17 have also been found to see extremely harmful content online, including drugs, suicide or self-harm.