No Facebook, Instagram for children: Meta deletes more than half a million teen accounts in Australia

Meta has deleted more than half a million social media accounts in Australia after the country’s under-16s social media ban came into force, marking one of the strongest government interventions yet aimed at limiting children’s access to major platforms.

The removals affected accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads that Meta believes were operated by users below the legal age. Australia is the first country in the world to introduce a nationwide ban of this scale.Meta said it deactivated 544,052 accounts between 4 December and 11 December after beginning enforcement of the law. Of these, 330,639 were on Instagram, 173,497 on Facebook, and 39,916 on Threads. The company said the accounts were identified using a combination of age signals, user reports and internal detection systems, while acknowledging that accurately verifying age online remains difficult.

Why Australia decided to ban social media for under-16s

Australia’s government argues that social media companies have failed to adequately protect children despite years of voluntary safety measures. Lawmakers point to growing evidence linking heavy social media use to anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, body image concerns and exposure to harmful or sexualised content among teenagers.Officials have also criticised what they describe as addictive algorithmic design, arguing that recommendation systems prioritise engagement over wellbeing and are particularly damaging to developing minds.

In government briefings, social media has been compared to products such as tobacco or gambling, where age limits are enforced by law rather than left to industry self-regulation.Under the legislation, platforms must take “reasonable steps” to prevent underage users from holding accounts. Failure to comply can result in penalties running into tens of millions of Australian dollars, shifting responsibility onto companies rather than parents or children.

The government has acknowledged the ban will not be perfect in its early stages, but says early enforcement is intended to establish clear expectations and force platforms to prioritise safety over growth.

How Australia’s approach differs from other countries

While many governments have tried to regulate children’s access to social media, Australia’s approach goes further than most existing models. Other countries have focused on measures such as parental consent, age-appropriate design rules or enhanced safety requirements rather than outright bans.France, for example, requires parental approval for younger users, while the US has long debated restrictions at both state and federal levels without adopting a national prohibition. The UK has strengthened online safety rules but stopped short of banning under-16s from holding accounts.Australia’s policy therefore represents the most stringent form of intervention so far, making it a closely watched test case for whether strict age limits enforced directly on platforms can work in practice.

Meta’s response and concerns

While confirming its compliance, Meta has criticised the approach, describing enforcement as a “multi-layered process” that will continue to evolve. The company has warned that age verification remains inconsistent across the internet and that teenagers may migrate to smaller or less regulated platforms.Meta has urged governments to work more closely with industry on shared age-verification standards, arguing that without a universal system, platforms are left making imperfect judgments that could lead to enforcement gaps or false positives.

Political criticism and early loopholes

Australia’s opposition has accused the government of rolling out a policy that is easy to bypass, pointing to teenagers openly claiming to evade age checks online. Critics argue that some underage users are already moving to alternative platforms not initially covered by the ban, raising questions about whether enforcement will reduce harm or simply shift behaviour elsewhere.The government has responded by saying the law allows additional platforms to be brought under the ban if migration becomes widespread, signalling that the scope of enforcement could expand over time.

A global test case

Australia’s under-16s ban has quickly become a reference point internationally. In the UK, politicians across party lines have cited the Australian model while debating whether similar restrictions should be introduced. Regulators and technology companies worldwide are watching closely to see whether enforcement holds, whether teenage usage declines and whether platforms change how they design products for young users.For now, Meta’s deletion of more than half a million accounts suggests that Australia’s approach, while controversial, is already forcing some of the world’s largest technology companies to respond more directly to concerns about children’s online wellbeing.