SYDNEY, Nov 25 (Reuters) - 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.

Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that may

include biometrics or government identification to enforce a

social media age cut-off, some of the toughest controls imposed

by any country to date.

"There will be very strong and strict privacy requirements

to protect people's personal information, including an

obligation to destroy information provided once age has been

verified," Albanese told parliament on Monday.

The laws would impact Meta Platforms' ( META ) Instagram and

Facebook, Bytedance's TikTok and Elon Musk's X and Snapchat

.

They have been criticised by figures including Musk, who

said on Friday the legislation was a backdoor attempt to control

access to the internet for all Australians.

The proposals are the highest age limit set by any country,

and would have no exemption for parental consent and no

exemption for pre-existing accounts. Platforms face fines of up

to $32 million for failing to comply with the legislation.

The government has said it aims to pass the bill into law by

the end of the parliamentary year on Thursday, fast-tracking it

through the upper and lower houses of parliament.