Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta on Thursday began deactivating Instagram and Facebook accounts of Australian users under the age of 16 ahead of next week’s social media ban.
Australia passed a new law in 2024 that forces major social media platforms to block anyone under the age of 16 from accessing their services under penalty of hefty multi-million dollar fines for the platforms. The law will go into effect on Wednesday, December 10.
As Breitbart News reported in November, Meta began notifying Australian users aged 13-15 that their accounts would soon be shut down by the company in compliance with the country’s new law.
Both Guardian and the BBC reported that the company began the account deactivation process on Thursday ahead of next week’s deadline.
“While we are working hard to remove all users who we understand to be under the age of 16 by 10 December, compliance with the law will be an ongoing and multilayered process,” a Meta spokesperson told the Guardian.
“If you’re under 16, you can still preserve and download your digital history across Instagram, Threads, and Facebook,” the spokesperson explained. “Before you turn 16, we will notify you that you will soon be allowed to regain access to these platforms, and your content will be restored exactly as you left it.”
It is reportedly estimated that there were approximately 150,000 Facebook accounts and 350,000 Instagram accounts held by Australian users between 13 and 15 years old as of February. The Guardian noted the ban also affects Meta’s microblogging service Threads, which requires an Instagram account to use.
Other non-Meta social media and video streaming platforms affected by the upcoming law include X, TikTok, Youtube, Reddit, Snapchat, Kick, and Twitch.
Teenagers who believe that they were wrongly blocked from accessing social media can ask for a “review,” which involves submitting a “video selfie” to verify their age or provide a driver’s license or government-issued identification card.
“With one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by the predatory algorithms described by the man who created the feature as behavioral cocaine,” Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells reportedly said on Wednesday, and stressed that she expects “teething problems” in the first days and weeks of the law’s implementation.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant reportedly described the upcoming law as the “first domino,” asserting that other countries would follow Australia in implementing similar legislation.
“We’ve reached a tipping point,” Inman Grant reportedly said at a Thursday cyber summit event in Sidney.
“Our data is the currency that fuels these companies, and there are these powerful, harmful, deceptive design features that even adults are powerless to fight against. What chance do our children have?” She continued.
Meta provided a statement to Breitbart News in November explaining that while it is committed to meet with legal obligations, it has raised concerns about the law.
“There’s a better way: legislation that empowers parents to approve app downloads and verify age allows families—not the government—to decide which apps teens can access,” A Meta spokesperson told Breitbart News.