Meta closes 550,000 Australian children’s accounts, warns ban ‘not meeting objectives’

南华早报
2026.01.12 03:33
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Meta Platforms has closed nearly 550,000 accounts in Australia to comply with a new law banning children under 16 from social media. This includes 330,000 Instagram, 173,000 Facebook, and 40,000 Threads accounts. The company urges the Australian government to work with the industry to create better age verification methods instead of blanket bans, citing concerns that the law may not effectively protect young users and could push them to less regulated platforms. Meta has also initiated the OpenAge Initiative to develop age-verification tools.