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<\/p>\nMore than 500,000 Australian children have been kicked off Facebook and Instagram by Meta to comply with the country’s social media ban for under-16s.<\/p>\n
The social media giant says it removed 330,000 users from Instagram, 173,000 from Facebook and 39,000 from Threads between December 4 and 11.<\/p>\n
Australia’s ban came into effect on December 10, but Meta began removing underage users a week earlier.<\/p>\n
The Albanese government is expected to release data showing how many young Australians were kicked off platforms affected by the ban this week.<\/p>\n
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The government is expected to release figures this week showing how many children have been kicked off social media. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)<\/p>\n
In an update overnight, Meta claimed the ban was not meeting the Australian government’s objectives of increasing the safety and wellbeing of youths.<\/p>\n
The US-based company cited concerns the ban had isolated vulnerable teens from support in online communities was driving them to less regulated apps.<\/p>\n
It criticised “inconsistent” verification methods used to validate a user’s age, and again chided the intention of the legislation.<\/p>\n
“The premise of the law, which prevents under-16-year-olds from holding a social media account so they aren’t exposed to an ‘algorithmic experience’, is false,” Meta said in a blog post.<\/p>\n
“Platforms that allow teens to still use them in a logged-out state still use algorithms to determine content the user may be interested in \u2014 albeit in a less personalised way that can be appropriately tailored to a person’s age.”<\/p>\n
Meta urges government to chart ‘better way forward’<\/p>\n
Meta says while it will continue to comply with Australian law, it wants the federal government to engage with industry on a different way.<\/p>\n
“We call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivising all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age-appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,” it said.<\/p>\n
The federal government passed the social media minimum age laws in 2024 in an attempt to protect youths from targeted algorithms and harmful content on social media platforms.<\/p>\n