Meta announced last month that it had already sent a notification to Australian users aged 13 to 15 that their accounts would be shut down on December 4. The ban on social media for teens will commence next week
In compliance with Australia’s new social media rules for minors, Meta has begun deleting the profiles of users under 16 from its Instagram, Facebook, and Threads platforms.
Meta announced last month that it had already sent a notification to Australian users aged 13 to 15 that their accounts would be shut down on December 4. The ban on social media for teens will commence next week.
Around 150,000 Facebook users and 350,000 Instagram accounts are expected to be deleted under Australia’s pioneering social media ban. Meanwhile, Threads, Meta’s version of X, can only be accessed via an Instagram account.
While Meta has agreed to comply with the law, which otherwise would attract a fine of $33 million, some disagreements remain.
A spokesperson for the tech giant toldBBC that “compliance with the law will be an ongoing and multi-layered process”. She added, “While Meta is committed to complying with the law, we believe a more effective, standardised, and privacy-preserving approach is needed.”
‘Weird’
Meta called for app stores to be held accountable for checking ages instead.
“The government should require app stores to verify age and obtain parental approval whenever teens under 16 download apps, eliminating the need for teens to verify their age multiple times across different apps,” the spokesperson said.
“Social media platforms could then use this verified age information to ensure teens are in age-appropriate experiences.”
YouTube has also attacked the social media ban.
The video-streaming giant said this week the new law would make young Australians “less safe” because under-16s could still visit the website without an account, but would lose YouTube safety filters.
But Australia’s communications minister described its argument as “weird”.
EU pushes for stricter age restrictions
The European Parliament has called for a region-wide prohibition on social media use for anyone younger than 16. The proposal marks one of the bloc’s strongest stances yet on safeguarding minors online, adding new urgency to a debate that has intensified alongside reports linking heavy social media use to anxiety, depression, and cyberbullying among young teens.
French President Emmanuel Macron has previously called for EU regulation to ban social media for children under 15, although it is not quite clear how the EU would carry this out, given that it is up to individual EU members to impose age limits.
Parliament’s resolution, backed by 483 votes to 92, with 86 abstentions, called for an EU-wide ban on access for children under 16 to online platforms, video-sharing sites and AI companions without parental consent and an outright ban for those younger than 13.
Proponents in Parliament argue that platforms’ existing age checks are ineffective, allowing children as young as eight or nine to open accounts with ease. A unified 16-and-over requirement, they say, would close that loophole and set a consistent standard across all EU member states.
With inputs from agencies
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