Meta Says It Removed 756,000 Australian Teen Accounts Under Social Media Ban
Meta says it has removed 756,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts suspected of belonging to Australians under 16, as the company faces increasing regulatory scrutiny over compliance with Australia’s world-first social-media age restrictions.
The figures cover the period from shortly before the law took effect in December 2025 through June 2026. Meta said it deactivated approximately 462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts during that period.
Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age law requires covered platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent people under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts. The restriction applies to major services including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube.
Meta said enforcement is continuing and that the number of removed accounts is expected to rise.
The company says it is using artificial intelligence to identify possible underage users by analysing contextual information on profiles, such as references to school grades or birthday celebrations. Reports submitted about suspected underage accounts can also contribute to enforcement decisions.
Meta has additionally tightened its account-creation process so people whose accounts were removed for being underage cannot repeatedly attempt to register new ones.
The company has publicly opposed Australia’s blanket under-16 restriction while saying it intends to comply with the law. Meta has argued that age verification would work better if handled at operating-system or app-store level rather than individually by social platforms.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, however, has raised concerns over how effectively several major platforms are implementing the law. In March, the regulator moved from compliance monitoring toward possible enforcement involving Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
Earlier government figures showed that social-media companies collectively restricted access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to under-16s shortly after the law took effect. The regulator cautioned that those figures did not establish full compliance.
The issue remains active. Representatives from Meta, TikTok, Google and Snap are scheduled to appear before an Australian parliamentary inquiry on Friday, where lawmakers are expected to examine how the companies are implementing the restrictions.
Australia is being watched well beyond its borders as other governments consider tighter age restrictions for social-media services. The effectiveness of the Australian model — and how easily young users can circumvent platform controls — could influence future regulation elsewhere.
