More than three-quarters of a million Facebook and Instagram accounts have lost access in Australia as Meta continues enforcing the country’s new minimum age requirements for social media. The company says 756,000 accounts identified as belonging to users younger than 16 have been removed since the restrictions took effect in December 2025.
Instagram accounts represent the majority of Meta’s enforcement so far. According to figures released by the company, approximately 462,000 Instagram accounts and another 294,000 Facebook accounts were removed. Meta expects the total to continue increasing as its detection and enforcement systems identify additional underage users.
Australia’s rules took effect on December 10, 2025. They require age-restricted social media services to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from creating or retaining accounts. Facebook and Instagram are among the platforms covered, alongside services including Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit.
The legal responsibility falls on the platforms rather than teenagers or their families. Under-16s are not fined for accessing an age-restricted service, and neither are their parents or carers. Companies, however, can face substantial civil penalties if they fail to take reasonable measures to comply. The maximum penalty currently cited by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is A$54.6 million.
Finding users who have entered an inaccurate date of birth presents a more complicated problem than simply checking the age registered on an account. Meta says it is using automated detection systems to examine signals that may indicate someone is younger than 16. These can include contextual information appearing in posts, captions, comments and profile biographies.
The company has also changed how suspected underage accounts can be reported. Meta says reports from parents and other users can trigger reviews, while artificial intelligence is being incorporated into the assessment process. Another part of its enforcement work is intended to identify users attempting to return after an account has already been removed for failing to meet Australia’s age requirement.
Australia’s regulatory guidance anticipates the use of multiple signals rather than relying exclusively on the birth date provided during registration. eSafety says platforms may consider account activity and connections, as well as location indicators such as IP addresses, device settings, Australian phone numbers and other information when determining whether an account requires additional age assurance.
The restrictions do not completely prevent younger Australians from viewing social media. Publicly accessible material that does not require an account can remain available to people under 16. Messaging, gaming, educational and some other categories of online services are also outside the current restrictions.
Meta’s removal figures provide one indication of the scale of enforcement, but they do not establish how effectively the legislation has prevented teenagers from maintaining or replacing accounts across social media as a whole. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is separately monitoring how platforms are implementing the requirements and can obtain information from providers as part of its compliance activities.
The regulator also acknowledges that age assurance is not necessarily instantaneous. Its guidance says determining a user’s age fairly and accurately can involve multiple measures applied over time. Platforms are additionally expected to provide an appropriate review process when someone aged 16 or older is incorrectly identified as being under the threshold.
Meta says its own enforcement will continue and that updated numbers will be reported to the eSafety Commissioner and periodically released publicly. The company also says it intends to continue developing methods for estimating age while accounting for user privacy.
For now, the 756,000 removed Facebook and Instagram accounts represent Meta’s own reported enforcement rather than an independent measurement of the overall effectiveness of Australia’s restrictions. The eSafety Commissioner continues to oversee platform compliance with the minimum-age requirement, which has been in force since December 10, 2025.