Tech giant Meta on Monday urged Australia to reconsider its world-first ban on social media access for users under the age of 16, even as the company disclosed it had blocked more than 544,000 accounts in compliance with the new law.
The legislation, which came into force on December 10 last year, requires major platforms such as Meta, TikTok and YouTube to prevent underage users from holding accounts or face hefty penalties.
Under the law, companies can be fined up to Aus$49.5 million if they fail to take what regulators describe as “reasonable steps” to enforce the ban.
Meta said it had acted swiftly, removing around 331,000 underage accounts from Instagram, 173,000 from Facebook and 40,000 from its Threads platform in the week following the law’s introduction.
While reaffirming its commitment to comply with Australian regulations, Meta called on the government to work more closely with industry to find alternative solutions.
In a statement, the company argued that incentives for platforms to provide safe, privacy-preserving and age-appropriate online experiences would be more effective than blanket bans.
Meta also renewed its call for app stores to take greater responsibility by verifying users’ ages and requiring parental approval before under-16s can download social media apps. Without such measures, the company warned, platforms would be forced into a “whack-a-mole” approach as teenagers migrate to new or less regulated apps to bypass restrictions.
The Australian government defended the policy, saying social media companies already collect vast amounts of user data and should use it to ensure compliance with the law and protect young people. A government spokesperson said platforms must be held accountable for the harm they cause to children and teenagers.
Meta, however, said parents and experts had raised concerns that the ban could isolate young users from supportive online communities and push them toward more dangerous corners of the internet.
Early impacts of the legislation, it claimed, suggested it was not meeting its intended goals. The company added that enforcement would require a multilayered approach and highlighted its involvement in the OpenAge Initiative, which has launched new age-verification tools.
