Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s moved closer to implementation after a key trial found that checking a user’s age is technologically possible and can be integrated into existing services.

Australia is poised to become the first country to implement a nationwide ban on social media usage for children under 16, following a successful trial of age verification technology.

Some age-checking applications collect too much data and no product works 100% of the time, but using software to enforce a teenage social media ban can work in Australia, the head of the world's biggest trial of the technology said on Friday.