Meta said it had removed more than 750,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts suspected of belonging to Australians under 16, as the country’s internet regulator weighs enforcement action over its teen social media ban.
Meta said it had deactivated 462,000 Instagram and 294,000 Facebook accounts suspected of belonging to Australians under 16. The figures are up from 331,000 Instagram and 173,000 Facebook accounts removed by January.
Meta says it wants to comply with Australia’s under-16 social media ban, despite opposing the law. The country’s internet regulator is considering legal action against platforms it says have failed to comply.
No other platforms have released compliance data covering the same period as Meta, but Australian government figures and multiple independent studies have shown that more than eight in 10 under-16s were still on social media during the ban's first three months.
The Australian government proposed the landmark law, which came into force on 10 December, amid concerns about social media's impact on the physical and mental health of children and young teenagers.
Australia has accused social media platforms of deliberately setting the under-16 ban up to fail as other countries consider similar restrictions.
It has also introduced legislation to double the maximum penalty for non-compliance to A$99 million ($69.75 million) and give the regulator greater powers to obtain documents.
Representatives of Meta, TikTok, YouTube owner Google and Snapchat owner Snap are scheduled to give evidence on Friday to a parliamentary inquiry into the changes, alongside regulatory and government officials.
"Enforcement is ongoing, and these numbers will continue to grow," Meta said in a statement.
"We share the Australian Government's goal of ensuring young people have safe, age-appropriate experiences online, and we are meeting our obligations under the law," the company added.
A 2025 Australian trial of age assurance technology found that products already on the market could effectively support the ban.
Most large platforms, including those owned by Meta, rolled out photo-based age estimation software, although they say they typically first subject users to age inference, which estimates a person's age based on their online activity.
Meta said it was using AI to analyse user profiles for "contextual clues that an account may belong to someone under 16, such as birthday celebrations or mentions of school grades" and to analyse reports about suspected underage accounts.
The Strait of Hormuz is "under Iran's control and management", the head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit, Hossein Taeb, said on ...
Taiwan staged military defence drills on Wednesday as China concluded joint naval exercises with Indonesia in waters east of the island....
Washington’s counter-narcotics push is expanding as Colombia’s new conservative government backs deeper security cooperation....
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Millions of people across Spain and Iceland are preparing on Wednesday to witness a rare total solar eclipse, when the moon will pass directly between Earth and the Sun, briefly turning daylight into darkness along a narrow path.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 12th of August, covering the latest developments.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has outlined an expanded vision for the Zangezur Corridor, describing it not simply as a transport route connecting mainland Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan exclave, but as a future platform for energy, telecommunications and wider regional integration.
Taiwan staged military defence drills on Wednesday as China concluded joint naval exercises with Indonesia in waters east of the island.
Washington’s counter-narcotics push is expanding as Colombia’s new conservative government backs deeper security cooperation.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has used Pacific Fleet drills to criticise Japan, NATO and possible Western moves against Russian commercial ships. He made the comments during his first visit to Iturup, a Japan-claimed island at the end of the Kuril chain near the island of Hokkaido.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 13th of August, covering the latest developments.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment