Australia’s House of Representatives has passed a bill that would ban children younger than 16 years from social media.

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.

The Australian government’s plan to ban children from social media to protect them from harm has won almost universal political support

The Australian government’s plan to ban children from social media platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram until their 16th birthdays is politically popular. The opposition party says it would have done the same after winning elections due within months if the government hadn’t moved first.

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 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.

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.

Google and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms urged the Australian government on Tuesday to delay a bill that will ban most forms of social media for children under 16, saying more time was needed to assess its potential impact.