Meta Platforms has shut down more than 500,000 social media accounts in Australia as part of its compliance with the country’s new under-16 social media ban, while simultaneously calling on the government to reconsider and ultimately abandon the controversial policy.
The mass deactivation follows the rollout of Australia’s world-first law prohibiting children under the age of 16 from holding accounts on major social media platforms. The regulation, which applies to services such as Facebook, Instagram and Threads, places legal responsibility on technology companies to prevent underage users from accessing their platforms. Companies that fail to comply face penalties running into tens of millions of dollars.
Meta said the account removals were carried out over a short period as the company intensified age-verification and enforcement efforts to meet the new legal requirements. According to the company, hundreds of thousands of accounts believed to belong to users under 16 were identified and disabled across its platforms, marking one of the largest coordinated account purges in the company’s history in a single country.
While Meta stressed that it is complying with Australian law, it has been outspoken in its criticism of the ban. The company argues that the policy is overly blunt, difficult to enforce accurately, and risks doing more harm than good for young people’s online safety and wellbeing.
In statements following the shutdowns, Meta warned that banning teenagers outright from mainstream social media platforms could push them toward less regulated corners of the internet. According to the company, these alternative platforms may lack safety features, content moderation, and parental controls, increasing exposure to harmful or illegal material rather than reducing it.
Meta has also raised concerns about the practical challenges of age verification at scale. Determining a user’s age online without collecting sensitive personal data remains a major technical and privacy hurdle. The company argues that no universally reliable system currently exists that can accurately verify age without risking data misuse or exclusion errors, potentially locking out legitimate users or misidentifying adults as minors.
The account shutdowns have sparked mixed reactions across Australia. Supporters of the ban, including child safety advocates and some parents’ groups, say the move sends a strong message to technology companies and prioritizes the mental health and development of children. They argue that social media platforms are not designed with young users’ best interests in mind and that reducing exposure during formative years could help curb issues such as anxiety, cyberbullying and addiction.
However, critics of the policy say the sweeping nature of the ban fails to account for the diverse ways teenagers use social media. For many young people, platforms serve as spaces for education, creativity, activism and social connection, particularly for those in remote areas or from marginalized communities. Opponents argue that removing access altogether may isolate vulnerable teens and cut them off from support networks.
Some families have also expressed frustration over the sudden loss of accounts, with teenagers reportedly losing access to years of photos, messages and online communities. Meta said affected users were given limited options to download their data and would be able to regain access once they reach the legal age threshold, but critics say the process has been confusing and disruptive.
The Australian government has defended the legislation, describing it as a necessary intervention in response to mounting evidence of social media’s negative impacts on children. Officials have said the law is intended to force technology companies to take greater responsibility rather than placing the burden solely on parents and schools. The government has also framed the ban as an evolving policy, suggesting it may be refined as enforcement data and outcomes become clearer.
Meta, however, is urging Canberra to shift its approach. Instead of an outright age ban, the company has called for industry-wide solutions such as app-store-level age controls, stronger parental supervision tools, and clearer standards that apply consistently across platforms. Meta says collaborative regulation would be more effective than punitive measures targeting individual companies.
The debate has drawn international attention, with policymakers in other countries closely watching Australia’s experiment. Some governments are considering similar age-based restrictions, while others are exploring less restrictive measures focused on design standards, advertising limits and algorithm transparency for youth-facing services.
For now, Meta says it will continue to comply with Australian law while advocating for change. The company has indicated it will share further data with regulators and lawmakers to support its case that the ban is ineffective and potentially counterproductive.
As Australia presses ahead with enforcement, the shutdown of more than half a million accounts underscores the scale of the policy’s impact and the growing tension between governments seeking to regulate social media and technology companies pushing back against what they see as overreach. Whether the law will achieve its stated goal of protecting children — or prompt a rethink in Canberra — remains an open question.
