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A 2025 Australian trial of age assurance technology found products on the \u200bmarket could effectively support a ban [File]
\n | Photo Credit: REUTERS<\/p>\n
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta said on Thursday it had taken \u200bdown more than 750,000 accounts it suspected were held by Australians \u2060aged under 16 since a world-first ban on teen accounts, and promised more action in the face of possible regulatory intervention.<\/p>\n
The company said it had deactivated 462,000 suspect Instagram accounts and 294,000 \u200csuspect 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 \u200caccounts it said it had removed by January. The world\u2019s largest social media \u200ccompany \u2060has said it wants to comply with a law it and \u2060other platforms have vocally opposed, just as Australia\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
No other \u200bplatforms have released compliance data \u200cthat 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\u2019s first three months.<\/p>\n
The Australian government proposed the landmark law, \u200cwhich came into force on December 10, on concerns about social media\u2019s impact \u200bon the physical and mental health of children and young teens. With other countries around the world considering similar age-restrictions, Australia has accused the \u2060platforms 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 \u200cgreater document discovery powers.<\/p>\n