An Australian Senate committee has backed a bill that would ban social media for children under 16 but said social media platforms should not force users to submit personal data such as passport and other digital identification to prove their age.

Australia passes a groundbreaking bill banning under-16s from social media. The legislation aims to enforce fines on platforms like TikTok and Facebook for failing to prevent young users. Critics argue it won’t effectively address social media harms and could create privacy risks.

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,

The Australian Senate committee endorses a bill that seeks to bar social media access for children under 16. The bill, backed by both major political parties, would enforce age verification using methods like biometrics.

The legislation would impose fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) on platforms for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.

An advocate for major social media platforms has told Australia’s Parliament that a plan to ban children younger than 16 from the sites should be delayed rather than being rushed to approval this week

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.

Australia’s plan to ban social media for children under the age of 16 is expected to pass parliament within days after it was signed off in a truncated Senate inquiry, even as lawmakers from across the political divide expressed discomfort at the “rushed” nature of the bills.