CANBERRA – In a massive enforcement operation, Meta has shuttered over 544,000 accounts across its ecosystem in Australia, marking the first major fallout from the country’s controversial social media ban for minors. The purge, which targeted users under the age of 16, comes as the tech giant escalates its criticism of the new legislation.
The figures, released by Meta, provide a staggering look at the scale of underage presence on social media. Between December 4 and December 11, 2025, just as the law officially came into effect, the company wiped:
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Instagram: 330,639 accounts
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Facebook: 173,497 accounts
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Threads: 39,916 accounts
Compliance Under Duress
While Meta is adhering to the strict new mandate, it is doing so with vocal opposition. Under the new law—regarded as the world’s most stringent—platforms face crippling fines of up to A$49.5 million for failing to prevent minors from accessing their services.
In a sharply worded statement, Meta argued that the ban is a “blunt instrument” that fails to address the root causes of online safety. The company maintains that age verification at the platform level remains fundamentally flawed and prone to circumvention.
“This law has not increased the safety or well-being of young people,” a Meta spokesperson stated. “Instead of fragmented platform-level checks, we continue to advocate for age verification at the app store level (Apple and Google), which would provide a more secure and universal solution for parents and children alike.”
The “Dark Alley” Concern
The Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has defended the measure as a necessary “shield” to protect children from addictive algorithms and harmful content. Supporters of the ban argue that the psychological toll of social media on adolescents justifies the drastic restriction.
However, digital rights experts are sounding the alarm. Some argue that by blocking access to mainstream, regulated platforms like Facebook and Instagram, the law may inadvertently drive young users toward the “dark corners” of the internet—less regulated applications and encrypted forums where monitoring and safety features are non-existent.
As the 90-day grace period for other platforms concludes, all eyes are now on TikTok and Snapchat to see if they will follow Meta’s lead in a similar mass-deletion event.
