BBC:
Meta has started booting Australian children under 16 years off its Instagram, Facebook and Threads platforms, a week before an official teen social media ban begins.
The tech giant announced last month that it had begun notifying users aged between 13 to 15 years old that their accounts would start being shut down from 4 December.
An estimated 150,000 Facebook users and 350,000 Instagram accounts are expected to be affected. Threads, similar to X, can only be accessed via an Instagram account.
Australia’s world-first social media ban starts on 10 December, with companies facing fines of up to A$49.5m (US$33m, £25m) if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to stop under-16s from having accounts.
A spokesperson for Meta told the BBC on Thursday that “compliance with the law will be an ongoing and multi-layered process”.
“While Meta is committed to complying with the law, we believe a more effective, standardised, and privacy-preserving approach is needed,” she said.
The government should require app stores to verify the age of users when they download apps and ask for parental approval for under-16s, Meta said, as this would eliminate the need for teens to verify their age across different apps.
Last month, Meta said users it had identified as under 16 would be able to download and save their posts, videos and messages before their accounts are deactivated.
Teens who believe they have been wrongly categorised as under 16 can ask for a review and submit a “video selfie” to verify their age. They can also provide a driver’s licence or a government-issued identification.
