Meta Purges 750,000 Australian Accounts Following New Youth Social Media Ban

Meta Platforms Inc. has removed more than 750,000 accounts in Australia suspected of belonging to users under age 16. This massive compliance effort includes the deactivation of 462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook profiles between December and June. These figures represent a sharp increase from January reports of 331,000 Instagram and 173,000 Facebook account removals. This purge follows the landmark Australian Social Media Age Limit Act, which mandates that platforms proactively block minors to avoid severe financial penalties.

Despite Meta's significant takedown, the Australian internet regulator reports that over 80% of children under 16 remain active on these platforms, often utilizing age-spoofing techniques. To address this, Meta is deploying a combination of AI-driven age estimation and third-party verification to satisfy the law. The Australian government has criticized tech giants for lackluster compliance, recently proposing to double the maximum non-compliance penalty to A$99 million, or approximately ₹550 crore. Representatives from Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snapchat are set to testify before a parliamentary inquiry regarding these ongoing challenges.

The Australian case serves as a critical blueprint for other nations, including the UK and parts of the EU, which are considering similar hard age-gating models. Indian policymakers are also monitoring these developments closely as they draft the Digital India Act. India, Meta's largest user base, faces unique challenges in implementing such mandates due to high digital diversity and varying literacy levels. Any global standard set by this enforcement will likely influence the strictness of future data privacy and child safety regulations within India’s massive digital landscape.