Tech giant Meta has begun removing minors below 16 years of age in Australia from its platforms Instagram, Threads and Facebook ahead of the country’s world-first youth social media ban.
“While we are working hard to remove all users who we understand to be under the age of 16 by 10 December, compliance with the law will be an ongoing and multilayered process,” a Meta spokesperson said on Thursday.
Australia requires 10 major online platforms, also including TikTok and YouTube, to block underage users by December 10, when the new law comes into force.
Companies face fines of 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32m) if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to comply.
Hundreds of thousands of adolescents are likely to be affected by the ban, with Instagram alone reporting about 350,000 Australian users aged 13 to 15.
Some popular apps and websites, such as Roblox, Pinterest and WhatsApp, are exempt, but the list remains under review.
Livestreaming service Twitch was added to the list less than two weeks ago.
Meta said it was committed to complying with Australian law, but it called for app stores to be held accountable for age verification instead.
“The government should require app stores to verify age and obtain parental approval whenever teens under 16 download apps, eliminating the need for teens to verify their age multiple times across different apps,” the Meta spokesperson said.
“Social media platforms could then use this verified age information to ensure teens are in age-appropriate experiences.”
YouTube has also attacked the social media ban.
The video-streaming giant said this week the new law would make young Australians “less safe” because those below 16 could still visit the website without an account, but would lose YouTube safety filters.
But Australia’s Communications Minister Anika Wells described its argument as “weird”.
“If YouTube is reminding us all that it is not safe and there’s content not appropriate for age-restricted users on their website, that’s a problem that YouTube needs to fix,” said Wells.
Wells added that some Australian teens had killed themselves as algorithms “latched on” – targeting them with content that drained their self-esteem.
“This specific law will not fix every harm occurring on the internet, but it will make it easier for kids to chase a better version of themselves,” she said.
The Sydney-based internet rights group Digital Freedom Project said it had challenged the laws in Australia’s High Court last week, calling them an “unfair” assault on freedom of speech.
Platforms are expected to devise their own means to stop rebellious teenagers from trying to skirt the law, by using fake IDs, for instance, but “no solution is likely to be 100 percent effective”, the internet safety watchdog has said.
There is keen interest in whether Australia’s sweeping restrictions can work as regulators around the globe wrestle with the potential dangers of social media.
Malaysia indicated it was plan9ning to introduce a similar ban next year.
Wells said the European Commission, France, Denmark, Greece, Romania and New Zealand were also interested in setting a minimum age for social media
