Moves to ban children under 16 from social media have been flagged by the opposition.
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As concerns grow over the link between social media and poor mental health among teenagers, governments are looking at ways to impose bans.
Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman describes it as one of the "defining issues of our era", saying a system of age verification with an onus on companies needs to be imposed.
"We don't see why kids under 16 should be on social media," he told ABC's Insiders on Sunday.
"Different people have different views on the age, but bottom line is, little kids should not be on social media.
"We still have a (film) classification system ... and yet, on social media, they see worse things every day."
It was "absurd" an environment had been created where children could interact with adults with little to no oversight, and now was the time to take action, Mr Coleman said.
The Albanese government has committed $6.5 million in the federal budget to pilot "age assurance technologies" to test their effectiveness and investigate how implementation could work.
Funding from a $43.2 million communications package would also be used to respond to "emerging and evolving online harms".
The government is also creating a joint standing committee to examine the consequences of online content on Australian society.
Mr Coleman said the coalition would support the government if it made changes to force social media companies to trial a process of age verification.
Australian Associated Press
