TMTPOST -- Australia's centre-left government has introduced a groundbreaking bill in parliament that aims to prohibit children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms. The proposed legislation also includes hefty fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for social media companies found to be in systemic violation of the rules. As part of the bill, Australia plans to trial an age-verification system, which could include biometrics or government-issued identification to enforce the social media age restriction. If passed, this will represent some of the most stringent controls on social media usage globally. The proposed age limit is the highest set by any country and offers no exemptions for parental consent or pre-existing accounts. "This is a landmark reform. We know some kids will find workarounds, but we're sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act," said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. While the opposition Liberal Party has expressed support for the bill, independents and the Green Party have called for more details. The legislation would affect major platforms like Meta's Instagram and Facebook, TikTok by Bytedance, X (formerly Twitter) owned by Elon Musk, and Snapchat. However, Albanese assured that children would still have access to messaging services, online gaming, and platforms offering health and education resources, such as the youth mental health platform Headspace and Google's Classroom and YouTube.