Meta Removes Over 750,000 Australian Teen Accounts Amid Regulatory Pressure
3 sources across 3 countries · Bangladesh · India · United Kingdom
Who reported this
- The Daily Star
- The Indian Express
- Reuters
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.
Meta announced on Thursday that it has deactivated 756,000 accounts suspected of belonging to Australians under the age of 16. This action follows a world first ban on teen accounts that went into effect on December 10. The company reported that 462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts were removed between just before the ban and June. This is an increase from the 331,000 Instagram and 173,000 Facebook accounts the company said it had removed by January.
The Australian government introduced the law due to concerns regarding the physical and mental health of children and young teens. While Meta stated it is meeting its obligations and shares the government's goal of ensuring safe online experiences, the Australian government has accused platforms of intentionally setting the ban up to fail. Government figures and independent studies indicate that more than eight in 10 under 16s remained on social media during the first three months of the ban. In response, Australia has introduced a law to double the maximum penalty for non compliance to A$99 million and has granted the regulator greater document discovery powers.
Meta is utilizing AI to analyze user profiles for contextual clues, such as mentions of school grades or birthday celebrations, and is using photo based age estimation software. The company also noted that it has removed the option for users to attempt to create new accounts if a previous account was deleted. Representatives from Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snap are scheduled to provide evidence in a parliamentary inquiry on Friday. This comes as the internet regulator considers an enforcement lawsuit against platforms that it claims have failed to take sufficient steps to comply with the law.
How each side framed it
- Centre
- Outlets with a center lean presented the facts neutrally, focusing on the tension between Meta's reported compliance numbers and the Australian government's claims of widespread non compliance.
Sources
- Centre Reuters: Meta says it has taken down 756,000 Australian teen accounts as ban enforcement looms - Reuters
- Centre The Daily Star: Meta takes down 756,000 Australian teen accounts as ban enforcement looms
- Centre The Indian Express: Meta took down 7,56,000 Australian teen accounts as social media ban enforcement looms
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.