Instagram and Facebook-owner Meta notifies Australian teens of accounts shutdown
Young Australians on Instagram, Facebook and Threads have been told their accounts will be closed ahead of the country’s social media ban on under-16s.
Meta, which owns three brands, said it began notifying users it believed to be between the ages of 13 and 15 via text, email and in-app messages that their accounts would begin to be disabled starting Dec. 4.
The ban in Australia will come into force on December 10. It affects a number of platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, X and Reddit.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the “worldwide” ban was aimed at “allowing kids to be kids”. Meta and other companies oppose the measure but have said they will comply.
Australia’s internet regulator estimates there are 150,000 Facebook users and 350,000 Instagram teenagers in the 13-15 age group.
As of December 4, children under the age of 16 will not be able to create accounts on Meta’s social media platforms.
The company said it is asking young users to update their contact information so they can be notified when they are eligible to open an account.
They can download and save their posts, videos and messages before their accounts are closed.
Young people who say they are old enough to use Instagram, Facebook and Threads can challenge the restriction by taking a “video selfie” that will be used in facial age screenings, Meta said.
They may also provide a driver’s license or other government-issued identification.
All of these verification methods were tested in a report by the UK-based Age Check Certification Scheme (ACCS) for the Australian state earlier this year.
While ACCS said all methods have their merits, he added: “We have not found a single ubiquitous solution that will suit all use cases, nor have we found solutions that are guaranteed to be effective across all deployments.”
Social media platforms that fail to take “reasonable steps” to block under-sixteens will face fines of up to A$50 million (£25 million).
“Compliance with the law will be an ongoing, multi-layered process as we work hard to remove all users we understand to be under 16 by December 10,” Antigone Davis, Meta’s executive vice president and head of global security, told Reuters Financial. he said.
Meta would like to see a law requiring those under the age of sixteen to obtain parental consent before downloading a social media app.
“Young people are resourceful and may attempt to bypass age assurance measures to access restricted services,” the firm told Australia’s Seven News.
But he said: “We are committed to meeting our compliance obligations and are taking the necessary steps to comply with the law.”
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the ban was aimed at protecting young people from “the pressures and risks they may be exposed to when logging into social media accounts”.
In a move to avoid falling under the ban, gaming platform Roblox announced this week that children under 16 will not be able to chat with adult strangers.
Mandatory age checks for accounts using chat features will be implemented in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands from December, followed by the rest of the world from January.
