Meta Removes 756,000 Underage Accounts in Australia as Teen Ban Enforcement Tightens

Meta says it has taken down 756,000 Australian teen accounts as ban enforcement looms

SYDNEY, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Facebook and Instagram owner Meta (META.O), opens new tab said on Thursday it had taken down more than 750,000 accounts it suspected were held by Australians aged under 16 since a world-first ban on teen accounts, and promised more action in the face of possible regulatory intervention. The company said it had deactivated 462,000 suspect Instagram accounts and 294,000 suspect Facebook accounts from just before the Australian social media ban went live in December to June, up from 331,000 Instagram accounts and 173,000 Facebook accounts it said it had removed by January. The world's largest social media company has said it wants to ⁠comply with a law it and other platforms have vocally opposed, just as Australia's internet regulator considers an enforcement lawsuit against platforms, including some that Meta owns, that it says have failed to take sufficient steps to comply with the law. No other platforms have released compliance data that matches the date range given by Meta, but Australian government figures and multiple independent studies have shown more than eight in 10 under-16s were still on social media in the ban's first three months. The Australian government proposed the landmark law, which came into force on December 10, on concerns about social media's impact on the physical and mental health of children and young teens. With other countries around the world considering similar age-restrictions, Australia has accused the platforms of intentionally setting the ban up ⁠to fail, and has introduced a law to double the maximum penalty for non-compliance to A$99 million ($69.75 million) and give the regulator greater document discovery powers. PARLIAMENTARY HEARING ON FRIDAY Representatives of Meta, TikTok, YouTube owner Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Snap's Snapchat (SNAP.N), opens new tab are scheduled to give evidence in a parliamentary inquiry about the changes on Friday, as are 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 products on the market could effectively support a ban. Most large platforms, including ⁠Meta's, rolled out photo-based age estimation software, although they say they typically first subject users to age inference, or assuming 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 company added that it had removed the option for a person to make more attempts to set up an account if their previous account was deleted. ($1 = 1.4194 Australian dollars) Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Kate Mayberry Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Meta removes over 7 lakh under-16 accounts in Australia: Can India be next?

India's massive user base could make large-scale age verification and account removal more challenging. Meta has removed over 7 lakh Instagram and Facebook accounts in Australia after identifying them as potentially belonging to users who are under 16. The company deactivated 4,62,000 suspected underage Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts between December and June, according to figures reported by Reuters. This comes after Australia's under-16 social media law came into effect on December 10, requiring major platforms to prevent children below 16 from holding accounts. Meta is using AI to find underage accounts The company stated that it is relying on AI and other detection systems to identify users who may be below the permitted age. Instead of depending only on the date of birth provided during account creation, the systems can examine signals such as birthday posts, references to school grades and reports from other users. The company has also introduced measures intended to prevent children from immediately creating new accounts after an underage account has been removed. Meta says that it is still putting new rules suggesting that more accounts can be deactivated. Australia's internet regulator is reviewing whether platforms are doing enough to comply with the law. Representatives from Meta, TikTok, Google and Snapchat are also expected to appear before a parliamentary inquiry. Can India be next? India does not currently have a nationwide law banning the social media accounts for users under 16. However, the issue has gained attention among the policymakers with several proposals and state level initiatives being discussed. Karnataka recently announced plans earlier this year to restrict social media access for children under 16, while Andhra Pradesh and Goa have also considered similar measures. At the central level, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is examining age-based approaches to online safety. Parliament has also seen proposals covering parental consent, children's online safety and restrictions on personalised advertising targeting minors. India's much larger user base may make enforcement more difficult than in Australia. Meta has hundreds of millions of Instagram and Facebook users in India, which creates challenges for age detection, verification, privacy, and large-scale account enforcement.