Meta urged Australia to rethink its social media use ban for teens under-16, warning that while enforcement of social media regulation is underway, the policy risks unintended harm as governments worldwide grapple with children’s mental health and online safety.
Australia’s legislation came took effect on December 10 of last, requiring Meta, TikTok and YouTube to prevent teens under 16 from setting accounts, placing the country at the forefront of regulation of social media as debates over government regulations on social media intensify worldwide and efforts to regulate social media accelerate.
Social media companies could be fined up to Aus$49.5 million for non-compliance.
Meta says it is enforcing the law, blocking more than 544,000 underage accounts across Instagram, Facebook and Threads in a single week. The Facebook-parent insists it supports regulating social media through a clear government social media policy, but argues the ban exposes deeper tensions over how far states should go.
Meta says it is committed to compliance, yet maintains the approach highlights unresolved questions about social media regulation and the effectiveness of government regulations on social media when protecting children online without severing their access to digital communities or pushing them toward riskier platforms.
Meta’s Warning on Blanket Bans
Meta said it had removed 331,000 underage accounts from Instagram, 173,000 from Facebook and 40,000 from Threads, describing compliance as a “multilayered process” shaped by evolving social media regulation frameworks. Still, it urged policymakers to rethink whether broad bans are the right tool to regulate social media in the long term.
“That said, we call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivising all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,” the company said in a statement.
Meta renewed calls for app stores to verify users’ ages and require parental approval before under-16s can download apps, arguing this could prevent a “whack-a-mole” effect as teens move elsewhere. It warned parents and experts fear current government regulations on social media may isolate young people and drive some toward “less regulated apps and darker corners of the internet,” raising broader questions of social media governance.
A Global Experiment Under Scrutiny
Australia’s move has resonated internationally. Denmark is considering similar government social media laws, while regulators in the UK and parts of the US are weighing age restrictions, parental consent rules and feature limits as part of wider social media regulation and efforts at regulating social media. Public support has been strong, with 77% of Australians backing the ban in one poll, but doubts remain over enforcement and impact.
Researchers increasingly link heavy social media use to anxiety and low self-esteem among children, yet evidence that bans work is limited. Critics argue such measures may simply displace screen time, while expanding data collection under social media regulation and tightening government regulation.
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