Meta wipes over 500,000 Australian teen accounts in a single week – but says world-first social media crackdown is failing
Meta has been busy deleting the accounts of under 16s in AustraliaOver 500,000 accounts are gone from Facebook, Instagram, and ThreadsMeta still wants more done to improve age verification The fallout from the Australian government’s decision to ban under-16s from social media continues: Meta has posted an update on the action it’s taken to adhere to the new rules, while reiterating its belief that there are better ways to protect teens. By December 11, a day after the ban came into effect, Meta says it had removed access to 544,052 accounts thought to belong to under-16s in Australia. That number covers the Instagram, Facebook, and Threads platforms all owned by Meta. The young users affected did get 14 days of notice to download their information and – presumably – let their contacts know where they could be found in the future (Facebook Messenger is actually exempt from the ban, for example). Australian authorities have introduced the ban […]
