Canberra, Australia - The Australian parliament on Friday passed legislation restricting access to social media for children and teenagers, allowing it only for those aged 16 or older.

The legislation passed the Senate on Thursday before being signed off by the House of Representatives with bipartisan backing early on Friday, just before the holiday break.

The ban will come into effect in a year's time and will impact platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, and X.

Exemptions will apply for health and education services including YouTube, Messenger Kids, and WhatsApp.

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Social media companies will be required to "ring-fence and destroy any data collected once it has been used for age assurance purposes," said a joint statement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland.

Failure to destroy data could incur penalties of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32 million).

"We've passed important legislation to keep our kids safe online," said Albanese, who heads the Labour Party. "Social media is doing social harm to our kids. We've called time on it."

"We want our kids to have a childhood and parents to know we have their backs," the prime minister added.

"Over the next 12 months, we'll work closely with industry and experts to ensure the minimum age is effectively implemented, informed by the findings of the Age Assurance Technology Trial currently underway," said Rowland.

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Opposition leader Peter Dutton called the passing of the bill a "cracking result" and a relief to parents.

"I think it's something that most parents around the country would give a head nod to, because these big tech companies only see our kids as a profit-making venture," the leader of the Liberal Party told Channel Nine's Today program.

"Hopefully we can keep young kids, young impressionable minds, off Snapchat and other social media platforms like that."

How the measures will be implemented remains unclear. However, the responsibility to verify users' minimum age is intended to fall on tech companies and internet platforms, not parents. According to the plans, there are no penalties for users.

Social media giants rushed to condemn the ban, with Meta called it "rushed" and TikTok saying it was "disappointed."

But other organizations joined the chorus, with UNICEF Australia warning that there was a danger of young users being pushed into "covert and unregulated online spaces, as well as preventing them from accessing aspects of the online world essential to their wellbeing."

Leo Puglisi, a 17-year-old online journalist who founded 6 News – what he claims to be the only national news streaming platform run by teens – said "this ban seriously risks restricting creativity from our young people, no matter what passion or future career they want to explore."

Albanese responded to criticism by saying that, while the ban isn't perfect, "it's the right thing to do."

"What we've done is world leading," Albanese told reporters outside Parliament House.

"We'll work to make sure that it's got right. But the legislation is very clear. We don't argue that its implementation will be perfect, just like the alcohol ban for under 18s doesn't mean that someone under 18 never has access. But we know that it's the right thing to do."