Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has taken down over 756,000 accounts it suspected were held by Australians under the age of 16, as the country enforces a ban on teen accounts.
Australia’s Social Media Ban
The ban, which came into effect in December, aims to protect the physical and mental health of children and young teens from the potential harm of social media. Meta has stated that it wants to comply with the law, despite initially opposing it.
According to Meta, 462,000 suspect Instagram accounts and 294,000 suspect Facebook accounts were deactivated between December and June. The company is using AI to analyze user profiles and identify accounts that may belong to underage users.
The Australian government has introduced a law to double the maximum penalty for non-compliance to A$99 million and give the regulator greater document discovery powers. Representatives of Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat are scheduled to give evidence in a parliamentary inquiry about the changes.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
