Meta to begin removing thousands of underage users from Australian platforms
Australian teens have just days left on Instagram and Facebook as Meta launches an unprecedented purge of underage users to comply with world-first laws.
Teen users on Instagram, Facebook and Threads will start receiving texts, emails and in-app messages today letting them know they’ll start losing access to their accounts from December 4 – a week before Australia’s world-leading laws come into effect.
Under the incoming media age laws, from December 10 platforms need to take reasonable steps to keep under-16s off their platform – but Meta says it is aiming to have all young users off its platform by then.
From Thursday, Meta will start contacting users it understands to be 13-15 and telling them via in-app messages, email and text that they will soon lose access to their accounts.
They will be told they can download and save their posts, messages and Reels and update their contact details so they can easily reactivate their accounts when they turn 16, or opt to delete their accounts.
Meta regional policy director Mia Garlick called on parents to ensure their child’s correct birth date is registered on their accounts.
“Parents remain important partners in promoting the appropriate use of technology within their households as platforms such as ours work to comply with the law,” she said.
Meta says it is adopting a data minimisation approach, but it expects a “margin of error” on both sides in trying to estimate age and will seek additional information for age-verification if it needs to.
Users mistakenly flagged as under 16 will be able to verify their age using video selfie or government ID through a third party website.
In a bid to reduce flouting of the laws, anyone changing their age from under 16 to over 16 will also need to verify their age.
Meta says although it is complying, it will continue to advocate for the government to put the onus on app stores to verify ages, rather than social media platforms.
Vice-president Antigone Davis said: “This, combined with our investments in ongoing efforts to assure age and verify that signal and provide age-appropriate experiences like Teen Accounts, offers a more comprehensive protection for young people online.”
Meta’s announcement comes a day after Roblox – a popular online gaming platform not currently subject to the social media ban – announced it would launch an age-estimation system next month.
Users in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands will need to verify their age before they can privately message other players from early December before the changes are rolled out globally in January.
It will use artificial intelligence to scan a user’s face and guess their age before sorting them into one of six categories, from under 9 through to over 21. There is a margin of error of one to two years, but the platform says that can be corrected if government ID is supplied
Roblox will also implement age-based chats so children, teens and adults can only message people around their own age.
The platform, which counts an estimated 380m users, will not be subject to the social media age ban but the online safety watchdog will be keeping a close eye on it and has warned if it starts rolling out new features it could be put on the list.
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Originally published as Meta to begin removing thousands of underage users from Australian platforms
