Meta Removes Over 756,000 Underage Accounts in Australia to Comply with Landmark Under-16 Social Media Ban
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it has removed more than 756,000 accounts in Australia suspected of belonging to users under the age of 16. The enforcement action reflects mounting global regulatory pressure on major technology firms to safeguard children and adolescents online following the implementation of Australia's landmark social media restrictions.
Meta stated that the post-enforcement removals comprised approximately 462,000 accounts on Instagram and 294,000 accounts on Facebook from the law’s inception through the end of June 2026. This comes on top of more than 500,000 accounts the company proactively eliminated prior to the ban officially taking effect.
Enforcement Metrics in Australia
The table below breaks down the scale of account purges executed across Meta’s primary platforms:
Metric / PlatformAction PeriodAccounts Remoed
InstagramPost-Enforcement (Through June 2026)~462,000
FacebookPost-Enforcement (Through June 2026)~294,000
Total Post-EnforcementDec 2025 – June 2026>756,000
Pre-Ban Proactive RemovalsPrior to December 2025>500,000
Regulatory Context and Global Significance
The Australian legislation represents one of the world's most stringent social media age-gating laws. Officially enacted in December 2025, the law mandates a strict minimum age threshold of 16 to open or maintain accounts on social media platforms, following widespread debate over the psychological and developmental impact of digital platforms on minors.
AI-Driven Detection and Anti-Circumvention Measures
To enforce compliance, Meta deployed a multi-layered verification framework to detect accounts suspected of belonging to underage users:
AI and Age Estimation: Utilizing artificial intelligence models and behavioral analysis to identify patterns characteristic of underage users.
Activity and Profile Signals: Analyzing declared user data alongside in-app activity signals.
Circumvention Prevention: Implementing targeted blocks to prevent purged minors from circumventing restrictions by creating new profiles.
Ongoing Regulatory Scrutiny
The release of these enforcement figures highlights the substantial operational effort Meta is directing toward compliance in Australia. Meanwhile, Australian regulatory authorities continue to closely monitor tech platforms to ensure the rules are thoroughly applied, especially as platforms face increasing scrutiny to counter evasion tactics and verify that minors cannot bypass the age gates.