More than half a million accounts belonging to children under 16 were blocked across Meta platforms in the lead-up to Australia’s world-leading ban on teen social media use.
New figures released a month after the law took effect reveal the scale of the enforcement effort, even as the company protests aspects of the ban that Reddit is also preparing to challenge in the High Court.
The social media giant began removing underage users and blocking the creation of new underage accounts in the week before the ban came into effect on December 10.
On Monday, the company announced it had removed 544,052 accounts it believed belonged to under-16 users across its platform in the week between December 4 and 11.
The majority of the underage accounts were concentrated on Instagram, where Meta blocked 330,639 users. A further 173,497 Facebook and 39,916 Threads accounts were also removed.
The figures provided broadly align with user numbers provided to the eSafety Commissioner in February 2025, when the company reported its tally of active users aged 13 to 17.
At that time, there were 351,135 active users aged 13 to 15 on Instagram, and 154,223 on Facebook. Only Snapchat reported having more users in this age bracket active on its platform.
Meta said it would take a “multi-layered” approach for ongoing compliance with the Social Media Minimum Age scheme, including a new age verification credential that designed to work across platforms.
Dubbed AgeKeys, the credentials have been developed by OpenAge, a not-for-profit set up by Singaporean age verification provider k-ID, as “the first interoperable, privacy-preserving global age signals”.
When integrated into its apps in Australia later this year, users will “have the ability to set up a verified age key, which is then stored on their device” and can be shared across multiple platforms”.
While will offer multiple verification methods, including face estimation, Meta said “teens and parents must still verify age app by app” — a cumbersome process given US research showing teens sometime use more than 40 apps a week.
“…We still believe there is a better way forward, which is age verification and parental approval at the app store level,” it said.
“To ensure all teens are protected online, we believe legislation should require app stores to verify age and obtain parental approval before their teens under 16 can download an app.
“This is the only way to guarantee consistent, industry-wide protections for young people, no matter which apps they use, and to avoid the whack-a-mole effect of catching up with new apps that teens will migrate to in order to circumvent the social media ban law.”
Meta also called out the “false premise” of the legislation that allows under-16s to view content in a logged-out state on many social media platforms determined to be “age-restricted”.
In its application to the High Court, Reddit has also argued that under-16s are “more easily protected from online harm if they have an account”, since the content is accessible regardless.
“As we’ve stated previously, Meta is committed to meeting its compliance obligations and is taking the necessary steps to remain compliant with the law,” Meta said on Monday.
“That said, we call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivising all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age-appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans.”
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