By Jack Gramenz and Luke Costin in Sydney

Australians will be better protected from scams under new Meta-imposed advertising rules as digital giants face a crackdown on perceived anti-competitive behaviour.

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram on Monday announced plans to tighten requirements for ads promoting financial services including loans, credit cards and investments.

It comes as the federal government proposes a new digital competition regime for big tech to protect consumers and bolster competition after it imposed a world-first social media age limit.

Social media companies have criticised the new limit as “rushed” and difficult to enforce, going so far as to warn of unintended consequences on free speech.

Human rights groups have said an outright ban was a disproportionate response and impinged on the rights of children, despite requirements to take action to secure their wellbeing.

Another Meta platform – the encrypted messaging application WhatsApp – is exempt from the age limit.

By the time promotional verification requirements finish rolling out in February, advertisers will be required to reveal who is paying for the ads, and who benefits from them.

Advertisers will also have to give an Australian Financial Services Licence or explain why the advertiser is exempt from holding one.

“The introduction of financial advertiser verification is an important additional step towards protecting people in Australia from these sophisticated scammers, who try to impersonate legitimate financial institutions and advertisers,” Meta Australia and New Zealand managing director Will Easton said.

Digital Industry Group Inc managing director Sunita Bose said the industry-funded body’s online scams code, which Meta is signed up to, commits platforms to verifying advertisers.

“Meta’s introduction of financial advertiser verification is a welcome boost in defences for Australian consumers against the criminal scammers who seek to exploit these services,” she said.

Fraudulent advertising has been an issue on social media platforms for several years, with prominent Australians having their names and likenesses used to promote dodgy investment platforms and cryptocurrencies.

Meta is testing facial recognition techniques to target those “celeb-bait” scams.

Meanwhile, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones will use a speech on Monday night to propose broad new competition powers to target anti-competitive behaviours among digital giants.

That includes where a platform preferences its products unfairly, forces consumers to buy one of its products to use another product or prevents consumers from switching to better alternatives.

App marketplaces and ad tech services will be included, with potential expansion to social media.

“This framework will lead to more choice, lower prices and fairer outcomes for consumers,” Mr Jones said.

“And it will level the playing field for small businesses and give them a chance to compete with good, innovative ideas.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will oversee compliance, with penalties of up to $50 million or 30 per cent of a company’s turnover.