Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday social media firms would be required to destroy personal data used to verify ages of users, as part of what the government says is a world-leading ban on under-16s using the services.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday that his government has rollout a new social media ban on children under 16, leaving the responsibility of policing the law to tech companies.

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

The law could lead to fines up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) on social media platforms if they don't prevent children from having accounts