Meta deletes over 750K accounts under Australia’s social media ban
Data suggests teens are still accessing social media.
Teens on phones. Image by Matt Cardy/Getty Images
- Meta removed 756,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts under Australia’s under-16 social media ban.
- The company used AI tools, user reports, and account-creation checks to identify and block underage users.
- The ban aims to reduce social media harm, but early data suggests many teens still access platforms.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Since Australia’s under-16s social media ban went into effect in December 2025, Meta has removed access to more than 750,000 accounts across Facebook and Instagram.
Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, says that it has been complying neatly with Australia’s social media rules and regulations.
The tech company claims to have removed 756,000 accounts on Facebook and Instagram belonging to people below the minimum age of 16. That number includes 462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook profiles.
“Enforcement is ongoing, and these numbers will continue to grow. We report our enforcement to the eSafety Commissioner and will continue to publish updates periodically in order to be transparent with the public,” Meta states in a press release.
The tech firm goes on to explain how it arrived at these numbers. For starters, it used AI-powered proactive detection measures to analyze posts, comments, bios, and captions for “contextual clues” to identify accounts that may belong to under-16s.
In addition, Meta simplified the reporting process, making it easier for parents and users to report suspicious accounts. Reports of underage accounts are now being reviewed by AI, delivering higher accuracy than human review alone.
Lastly, Meta strengthened its systems to detect and prevent users from creating a new account after their previous one was deleted.
“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. We will continue to invest in new ways to understand age more reliably while protecting privacy, and we will publish further updates as this work continues,” Meta concludes.
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Last year, Australia implemented new legislation prohibiting teenagers under 16 from creating and using accounts on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, and YouTube.
The goal was to combat both the mental and physical effects of social media, such as social isolation, exclusion, sleep deprivation, addictive behavior, and low self-esteem.
“I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts. We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained the ban at the time.
However, there have been serious doubts about the social media ban’s effect. A recent study shows that the percentage of teens under 16 using a social media platform prior to the social media ban was 85.9%. In the following 3 months, this declined to 81.5%.
The report also showed that most under-16s who had a social media account before the ban either retained it or created a new one.