Meta says it shut down 750,000 under-16 accounts in Australia
Meta Platforms removed more than 750,000 Instagram and Facebook accounts in Australia it believed were held by users under 16 since the country began enforcing a new youth ban in December.
Source: The Business Times Singapore · August 13, 2026 at 7:40 AM · AI-assisted report
Single-sourceKUALA LUMPUR, 13 AUGUST 2026 —
Meta Platforms removed more than 750,000 Instagram and Facebook accounts in Australia it believed were held by users under 16 since the country began enforcing a new youth ban in December.
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The Menlo Park-based group said on August 13 that the total included 500,000 accounts taken down before the law took effect and a further 250,000 since then.
Of the removals, 462,000 were on Instagram and 294,000 on Facebook, Meta said in a statement.
“Enforcement is ongoing, and these numbers will continue to grow,” the company told Bloomberg.
The removals cover accounts Meta identified through artificial-intelligence tools and other detection methods, it said.
Regulators and academics are watching Australia’s experience to gauge whether age restrictions can curb underage use or push children toward unregulated platforms.
Australia’s Online Safety Regulator (eSafety) reported in July that only a small drop in underage users occurred in the first three months after the rules took effect in December.
It found the share of 10-to-15-year-olds who said they used a social-media account fell from 85.9% before the law to 81.5% in March.
eSafety said the main reason children still held age-restricted accounts was that platforms had not yet asked them to verify their ages.
About 38% of under-16 Instagram users told eSafety they had not been prompted to confirm their age, while 28% of Facebook users in the same group said the same.
The regulator’s commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, did not respond to a request for comment on Meta’s latest figures.
Meta likewise did not reply to questions about how many under-16 users it still estimates remain on its platforms in Australia or on eSafety’s findings.
Australia’s rules require platforms such as Meta, Snap and TikTok to bar under-16s from holding accounts or face fines.
More than two dozen countries have either enacted similar bans or are considering them after Australia’s move, but circumvention remains common.
Malaysian officials have not signalled plans to adopt a blanket under-16 ban, but the country’s existing content rules and age-verification efforts already require platforms to remove illegal material and restrict access to minors where required.
Bank Negara Malaysia’s 2023 financial stability review noted that digital platforms must balance child protection with user access, a challenge that Australia’s experience highlights.
For now, both regulators and parents in Malaysia will watch how Australia’s enforcement evolves before deciding whether a similar approach could work locally.
Meta said it reports enforcement details to the Australian government and provides public updates to maintain transparency.
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