Australia: Meta Begins to Exclude Users Under 16 from Its Platforms Before New Law Takes Effect

Meta, the American tech giant, announced on Thursday that it will start removing accounts of Australian users under the age of 16 from Instagram, Threads, and Facebook, ahead of a ban by the Australian government on social media for minors set to take effect on December 10.

"We are working to delete all accounts of users we believe to be under 16 by December 10, but compliance with the law will be a continuous, multi-step process," a spokesperson for the company stated.

They clarified that these same users can still register and download their online history.

"Before you turn 16, we will inform you that you will soon be allowed to regain access to these platforms, and your content will be restored exactly as you left it," they added.

Meta has requested that app stores (such as the App Store or Google Play Store) be held responsible for verifying users' ages rather than social media platforms, arguing that this would prevent teenagers from needing to verify their age multiple times across different applications.

The video streaming giant YouTube criticized the impending ban on social media for users under 16 in Australia as "hasty," describing it as a global first supported by the Canberra government, which sees it as a shield against "predatory" algorithms.

YouTube assured that all its users under 16 would be automatically excluded on December 10, determining eligibility based on the ages provided by users on their Google accounts used for logging into YouTube.

The Australian government acknowledged that the ban would not be perfect initially and that some minor users might slip through the cracks before the system is improved.

Operators who violate the rules could face fines of nearly 50 million Australian dollars (28 million euros) without making "reasonable progress" toward compliance, although this concept has not been clearly explained by authorities.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labeled social media as "platforms of social pressure, sources of anxiety, tools for scammers, and worst of all, for online predators."