By Andrew Brown in Canberra

Any proposal to ban children from social media would need to ensure young Australians can still connect with peers online, the internet safety watchdog says.

As the federal government looks to pass its proposal to ban under 16s from using social media platforms, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant says children must be protected online, but also still need to communicate via the internet.

“We’ve only seen the social media sites moving incrementally, not monumentally, in terms of keeping kids safe and so we understand the ideas behind this,” Ms Inman Grant told ABC Radio on Monday.

“We also need to make sure that particularly vulnerable and marginalised kids still have a way to connect and to create and explore.

“When we implement what will become the law, we’ll try and do this in a way that is really protective of the range of children’s rights, including their ability to communicate and express themselves online.”

Under the proposal, which has support from both the government and the opposition, under 16s would be barred from using Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.

Social media companies would be fined up to $50 million for breaches of the law if they do not take reasonable steps to prevent young people from having an account.

The laws will come into effect a year from when they pass parliament.

There has been criticism the world-first laws have been rushed, with independent senator David Pocock saying there has not been enough scrutiny of the proposal.

Experts will appear before a parliamentary inquiry into the social media ban on Monday, including mental health organisation Headspace and the Australian Information Commissioner.

Senator Pocock said social media harms needed to be addressed, but the laws had to be looked over properly.

“This seems like policy on the run, that they’re taking this approach where they’re saying, ‘well this is a silver bullet’,” he told ABC Radio.

“The major parties …are happy to forgo all scrutiny and just ram something through when, one, it’s in their self interest, or two, they can then hold that up going into an election saying ‘well, at least we’ve done something’.”