An Australian Cabinet minister has rejected X Corp. owner Elon Musk’s allegation that the government intends to control all Australians' access to the internet through legislation that would ban young children from social media.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, criticized proposed legislation in Australia that aims to ban social media for children under 16.

"Our job is to put in place the necessary protection for kids online," Australia's treasurer said after the billionaire criticised its new social media age limit bill. View on euronews

Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday social media firms would be required to destroy personal data used to verify ages of users, as part of what the government says is a world-leading ban on under-16s using the services.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk criticized Australia’s proposed legislation to ban social media access for children under 16, calling it “a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians.

U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, has criticised Australia's proposed law to ban social media for children under 16 and fine social media platforms of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for companies for systemic breaches.

Elon Musk has blasted proposed legislation from Australia's government that would outlaw access to social media for children under 16.