Meta starts kicking Australian children off Instagram and Facebook

Meta has begun kicking Australian under-16s off its Instagram, Facebook and Threads platforms, a week before an official social media ban for teenagers begins.

The tech giant announced last month that it had begun notifying users aged 13 to 15 that their accounts would begin shutting down starting December 4.

An estimated 150,000 Facebook users and 350,000 Instagram accounts are expected to be affected. Topics similar to X can only be accessed via an Instagram account.

Australia’s first social media ban begins on December 10, with companies facing fines of up to AU$49.5 million (US$33 million, £25 million) if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to prevent children under 16 from having accounts.

A Meta spokesman told the BBC on Thursday that “compliance with the law will be an ongoing, multi-level process.”

“While Meta is committed to complying with the law, we believe a more effective, standardized and privacy-preserving approach is needed,” she said.

Meta said the government should require app stores to verify users’ age when downloading apps and require parental consent for those under 16, as this would eliminate the need for teenagers to verify their age via various apps.

Last month, Meta said that users it identified as under 16 would be able to download and save their posts, videos and messages before deactivating their accounts.

Teens who believe they have been incorrectly classified as under 16 can request a review and submit a “video selfie” to verify their age. They can also provide a driver’s license or government-issued ID card.

In addition to the three Meta platforms, the other social media sites affected by the ban are YouTube, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Kik, and Twitch.

The government says the ban aims to protect children from the harms of social media, but critics say the move could isolate certain groups that rely on communication platforms and push children into less regulated corners of the internet.

Communications Minister Annika Wells said Wednesday Teething problems expected In the first few days and weeks of lockdown, it was about protecting Generation Alpha – anyone under the age of 15 – and future generations.

“With one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by predatory algorithms Described by the guy who created this feature “Like behavioral cocaine,” Wells said.

She described young people as being connected to “dopamine drops” from the moment they got a smartphone and social media accounts.

Wales also said she was closely monitoring less popular apps like Lemon8 — created by the makers of TikTok — and Yope to see if kids migrate to those platforms after the ban.

Earlier this week, Australia’s e-safety commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, wrote to Lemon8 and Youpe – both video and photo sharing apps – asking them to conduct a self-assessment if they fall under the ban.

Bahram Ismailaw, Yope CEO and co-founder, said the startup has not received any inquiries from Inman Grant yet, but has already conducted a self-evaluation and found that it is not a social media platform.

He told the BBC: “Because in practice he works as a completely private correspondent with no public content at all.”

Yope works much like WhatsApp, where it’s about “seeing people every day and sharing your life with them safely and privately,” Ismailao said.

Lemon8 has reportedly said it will exclude children under 16 from its platform from next week, although they are not included in the ban.

YouTube, which was originally exempt from the ban and later included, called the law “urgent” and claimed that preventing children from having an account — which comes with parental controls — would make its video-sharing platform “less safe.”

Australia’s social media ban, the first of its kind in the world, is being closely followed by world leaders.

The government commissioned a study earlier this year that found 96% of Australian children aged 10 to 15 used social media, and seven in 10 of them were exposed to harmful content such as violent and misogynistic material, as well as content promoting eating disorders and suicide.

One in seven also reported experiencing grooming behavior from adults or older children, and more than half said they had been the victim of cyberbullying.