Meta says it has removed or deactivated 756,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts suspected of belonging to Australians under 16, putting fresh attention on whether the country’s world-first social media age restrictions are working as intended.

The company said the total covers the period from shortly before the rules took effect on December 10, 2025 through June 2026. It includes about 462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts.

That is well above Meta’s earlier tally. By January, it had reported removing roughly 331,000 Instagram accounts and 173,000 Facebook accounts. Meta says enforcement is continuing and the totals will keep growing.

Why 756,000 removals do not settle the enforcement question

Australia requires age-restricted social platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from creating or keeping accounts. Children and parents are not fined; responsibility sits with the platforms.

Meta has opposed Australia’s policy but says it intends to comply. The bigger test is effectiveness. Government figures and independent research cited in reporting on the ban indicated that more than eight in 10 under-16s were still using social media during its first three months.

The gap helps explain why account deletion alone is not enough to judge the policy. A young user may try a different birth date, identity or account after being removed. Earlier reporting on how Australian teenagers were finding ways around the social media restrictions showed how quickly enforcement can turn into a continuing technical contest.

The government introduced the law amid concerns about social media’s effects on children’s wellbeing and exposure to harmful online experiences. Australia is now being watched internationally as other governments consider tighter youth-access rules; the UK debate over under-16 social media restrictions illustrates how the Australian model is influencing a wider policy discussion.

How Meta is identifying suspected under-16 accounts

Meta says it uses AI and age-inference systems to look for contextual signals that an account may belong to someone under 16, including references to school grades or birthday celebrations. Reports about suspected underage accounts can provide another signal.

Major platforms have also rolled out photo-based age-estimation tools. A 2025 Australian age-assurance technology trial found that available technologies could support age restrictions, although no single method was suitable for every situation.

The distinction matters. Age verification can rely on stronger evidence, age estimation can assess an age range from signals such as a photo, and age inference can use existing account information and behaviour. The Australian eSafety Commissioner says self-declared age alone is not enough and platforms should use a layered approach while protecting privacy.

Meta also says it has removed an option that allowed further attempts to establish an account after a previous account was deleted, addressing one of the weaknesses regulators had identified in age-assurance processes.

Regulatory pressure is getting stronger

In March, eSafety said it had significant compliance concerns involving Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube and was moving from compliance monitoring toward enforcement. Current rules allow court-imposed corporate penalties of up to A$54.6 million for serious failures to take reasonable steps.

A separate 2026 bill would strengthen enforcement further, including tougher information-gathering powers and a proposed maximum penalty of A$99 million. That higher figure is proposed legislation, not the current maximum.

A Senate committee inquiry into the enforcement bill has a public hearing scheduled in Canberra for August 14. Meta, TikTok, Google/YouTube and Snap representatives, alongside regulators and government officials, are expected to face scrutiny over how the restrictions are being implemented.

What the numbers really show

Meta’s 756,000-account figure demonstrates that age enforcement is happening at scale, but it does not by itself establish that underage access has been prevented. The more meaningful measures will be whether removed users stay off restricted services, whether repeat sign-ups decline and whether age checks avoid wrongly blocking adults.

That is why the next phase of Australia’s policy will focus less on headline deletion totals and more on evidence of lasting compliance. For Meta and its rivals, the challenge is no longer simply identifying suspected teen accounts; it is showing regulators that their systems can keep those accounts from returning without creating unnecessary privacy risks for everyone else.

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