Meta Removes 750,000 Suspected Teen Accounts in Australia

Meta has removed more than 750,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts in Australia suspected of belonging to users under 16, the company announced on August 13, 2026, as it faces intensifying scrutiny over the effectiveness of the country's world-first social media ban for teenagers. The removals, which include 462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts, were conducted between December 2025 and June 2026, a period covering the implementation and early enforcement of Australia's Social Media Minimum Age law.

The law, which came into effect on December 10, 2025, mandates that platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts. Meta stated that it began removing accounts shortly before the law took effect, with the total figure rising from approximately 504,000 accounts reported in January to the current total. The company said it uses artificial intelligence to analyze user profiles for contextual clues, such as birthday celebrations or mentions of school grades, alongside user reports, to identify potentially underage accounts.

Despite these actions, the ban has shown limited early...