- Meta has been busy removing under-16 accounts in Australia
- More than 500,000 accounts disappeared from Facebook, Instagram and Threads
- Meta still wants more to be done to improve age verification
The fallout from the Australian government’s decision to ban under-16s from using social media continues: Meta has released an update on the steps it has taken to comply with the new rules, while reiterating its belief that there are better ways to protect teenagers.
On December 11, a day after the ban came into effect, Meta says it had removed access to 544,052 accounts thought to belong to under-16s in Australia. That number covers the Instagram, Facebook and Threads platforms, all owned by Meta.
The affected young users were given a 14-day notice to download their information and, presumably, inform their contacts where they could find them in the future (Facebook Messenger is, in fact, exempt from the ban, for example).
Australian authorities have introduced the ban in the interest of child safety, citing concerns about screen time, inappropriate adult contact and exposure to harmful content, including material depicting violence, bullying and mental health issues.
‘A better way forward’
Meta also takes the opportunity of the update to express his “concerns” about this new ban. “Some of the initial impacts we have seen as a result of the law suggest that it is not meeting its objectives of increasing the safety and wellbeing of young Australians,” the Meta team writes.
“We continue to believe there is a better way forward, which is age verification and parental approval at the app store level,” he added.
That would put the onus on companies like Google and Apple to verify users’ ages. Meta is also driving a new nonprofit called the OpenAge Initiative, which aims to standardize age verification processes and prevent teens from switching to less regulated apps that may not be as diligent about checking the age of their users.
Meta says it will continue to “constructively engage” with the Australian government to “find a better way forward”. He doesn’t seem to oppose age verification per se, but he does want it to be more regulated and consistent across platforms.
The entire business model of social media apps is about getting as many people as possible to spend as much time as possible within the apps, of course. Still, these companies are feeling the pressure to take on more responsibility: In recent years, Meta has added several features for younger users designed to keep them safe online.
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