Meta takes down over 750,000 Australian teen accounts

The company said it had deactivated 462,000 suspect Instagram accounts and 294,000 suspect Facebook accounts

Facebook ​and Instagram owner Meta said on Thursday it had taken down more than 750,000 accounts it suspected ‌were held by Australians aged under 16 since a world-first ban on teen accounts, and promised more action in the face of possible regulatory intervention.

The company said it had deactivated 462,000 suspect Instagram accounts and 294,000 suspect Facebook accounts from just before the Australian social media ​ban went live in December to June, up from 331,000 Instagram accounts and 173,000 Facebook accounts it said ​it had removed by January.

The social media company has said it wants to ⁠comply with a law it and other platforms have vocally opposed, just as Australia’s internet regulator considers an enforcement lawsuit ​against platforms, including some that Meta owns, that it says have failed to take sufficient steps to comply with the law.

No ​other platforms have released compliance data that matches the date range given by Meta, but Australian government figures and multiple independent studies have shown more than eight in 10 under-16s were still on social media in the ban’s first three months.

The Australian government proposed the landmark ​law, which came into force on December 10, on concerns about social media’s impact on the physical and mental ​health of children and young teens.

With other countries around the world considering similar age-restrictions, Australia has accused the platforms of intentionally setting the ban ‌up ⁠to fail, and has introduced a law to double the maximum penalty for non-compliance to A$99 million ($69.75 million) and give the regulator greater document discovery powers.

Representatives of Meta, TikTok, YouTube owner Google and Snap’s Snapchat are scheduled to give evidence in a parliamentary inquiry about the changes on Friday, as are regulatory and government officials.