Meta has urged the Australian government to reconsider its newly implemented ban on social media accounts for users under the age of sixteen, after the company deactivated more than five hundred thousand accounts in the first week of enforcement to comply with the law.

The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act came into force in December two thousand twenty-five, requiring major platforms to prevent under-sixteen users from holding accounts on services including Instagram, Facebook, and Threads, or face fines of up to forty-nine point five million Australian dollars.

Between December fourth and December eleventh, Meta identified and removed over five hundred forty-four thousand accounts it believed were held by underage users, with the bulk from Instagram and Facebook and several tens of thousands from Threads.

This early action was aimed at meeting legal obligations while the broader legislative regime began full application on December ten.

Meta said it was committed to meeting its compliance obligations but described the effects of a blanket ban as “challenging” and warned that prohibitions of this type may drive young Australians to other online services not covered by the law or to techniques such as virtual private networks to evade age checks.

The company has called for closer government-industry collaboration on age verification technologies, including “privacy-preserving” methods and potential verification at the app-store level to ensure consistent age-appropriate experiences across platforms.

Meta also noted that the process of determining age online remains complex and that compliance would be a “multi-layered” effort requiring ongoing refinement.

The ban is being closely observed internationally, with policymakers in other countries expressing interest in similar measures to protect children online.

In Australia, public discussion continues about the best mechanisms for ensuring youth safety in the digital environment, with advocates and officials debating the balance between access, protections, and unintended consequences.

Amid this dialogue, Meta’s latest report illustrates both the scale of enforcement under the new regime and the technical and practical questions facing regulators and platforms alike.