Meta removes 756,000 Australian teen accounts amid new age law
Meta has deactivated 756,000 Australian accounts believed to belong to users under the age of 16. The company confirmed the move on Thursday amid tightening regulations on youth social media use.
The total includes 462,000 suspected underage Instagram accounts and 294,000 flagged Facebook accounts. All were removed between December, when the ban first came into effect, and June of this year.
To identify these accounts, Meta relied on AI tools designed to scan user activity for contextual clues suggesting an underage user. These included things like birthday celebration posts or references to specific school grades, alongside reports submitted by other users.
In an official statement, Meta said enforcement remains ongoing and that these numbers will likely continue rising. The company added that it shares the Australian government’s goal of ensuring safer, age-appropriate online experiences for young people.
Meta also stated that it is actively meeting its legal obligations under Australia’s new social media rules. The announcement comes as the company faces mounting scrutiny and potential regulatory action tied to the country’s landmark youth protection laws.
There is growing consensus globally that major tech platforms have failed to prioritise child safety in their product design. Features like infinite scrolling, engagement-driven algorithms and constant notifications are increasingly viewed by regulators as manipulative, disrupting both sleep and academic performance among young users.
In response, Australian authorities recently doubled maximum penalties for non-compliance to roughly A$99 million, equivalent to about $69.75 million USD. Regulators have also been granted expanded powers to access internal company documents amid claims that platforms have not done enough to enforce existing restrictions.
This crackdown reflects a broader global shift toward limiting youth access to social media, driven by mounting public health concerns. Reports from the World Health Organization and various long-term studies have linked heavy platform use to rising rates of adolescent anxiety, depression and body-image issues.
Legal pressure on tech companies has intensified too, with several US lawsuits and court rulings exposing internal documents suggesting platforms knowingly prioritised engagement over user safety. That mounting evidence has fuelled growing legislative appetite worldwide for mandatory, government-enforced age verification systems.
