SYDNEY, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Australia passed a law on

Thursday to ban social media for children aged under 16 after

days of heated debate, setting a standard for other countries to

follow in a global push to curb the power of Big Tech.

The law, expected to take effect in November 2025, sets

some of the toughest social media controls in the world and will

force platforms to take reasonable steps to ensure

age-verification protections are in place.

After a parliamentary session that went into the night,

the country's Senate, or upper house of parliament, voted to

pass the law after the centre-left Labor government of Prime

Minister Anthony Albanese won support from the conservative

opposition.

The Senate's approval for the law is the final

legislative hurdle after the lower house, or House of

Representatives, passed the bill on Wednesday.

Albanese, trying to lift his approval ratings ahead of

an election expected in May, had argued that social media posed

risks to the physical and mental health of children and is

looking for support from parents.

Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that

may include biometrics or government identification to enforce

the ban. The trial will run for several months and its findings

would be reviewed by mid-2025.

Under the law, companies could be fined up to A$49.5

million ($32 million) for breaches.

In submissions to parliament, Alphabet's Google

and Meta said the ban should be delayed until the

age-verification trial finishes, expected in mid-2025.

Bytedance's TikTok said the bill needed more consultation, while

Elon Musk's X argued the proposed law might hurt children's

human rights.

A Senate committee backed the bill this week, but also

inserted a condition that social media platforms should not

force users to submit personal data such as passport and other

digital identification to prove their age.