Meta has shut down more than 550,000 social media accounts belonging to children under 16 in Australia.

Meta reported on the progress made since the Australian government began enforcing the law banning anyone under 16 from using social media in all cases, effective December 10th of last year. As of December 11th, 2025, the company had blocked approximately 550,000 accounts on its platforms belonging to users under the age of 16 in Australia.

The figures are broken down as follows: Instagram (330,639 accounts), Facebook (173,497 accounts), and Threads (39,916 accounts) (this figure further confirms that teenagers are not using Facebook).

Meta emphasized that it is prepared to comply with Australian law but remains concerned about the lack of a clear, standardized age verification process, as well as the side effect that teenagers whose social media accounts are blocked may try to find alternative apps, possibly smaller, unregulated apps, as evidenced by recent increases in downloads of some such apps. Meta supports a system that allows teenagers to use social media freely, similar to the Teen Account system used by Instagram and Facebook, which provides content oversight.

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Meta reported on the progress made since the Australian government began enforcing the law banning anyone under 16 from using social media in all cases, effective December 10th of last year. As of December 11th, 2025, the company had blocked approximately 550,000 accounts on its platforms belonging to users under the age of 16 in Australia.

The figures are broken down as follows: Instagram (330,639 accounts), Facebook (173,497 accounts), and Threads (39,916 accounts) (this figure further confirms that teenagers are not using Facebook).

Meta emphasized that it is prepared to comply with Australian law but remains concerned about the lack of a clear, standardized age verification process, as well as the side effect that teenagers whose social media accounts are blocked may try to find alternative apps, possibly smaller, unregulated apps, as evidenced by recent increases in downloads of some such apps. Meta supports a system that allows teenagers to use social media freely, similar to the Teen Account system used by Instagram and Facebook, which provides content oversight.