The law will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to $33 million for failures to prevent kids from holding accounts.

The new law will deliver a message to tech companies to "clean up their act," the country's prime minister has said.

Australians reacted on Friday with a mixture of anger and relief to a social media ban on children under 16 that the government says is world-leading, but which tech giants like TikTok argue could push young people to "darker corners of the internet".