Meta says it has removed more than 756,000 suspected under-16 accounts in Australia, but the larger fight may be over who should verify a person’s age in the first place.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Meta says it deactivated 462,000 Instagram accounts and 294,000 Facebook accounts suspected of belonging to Australians under 16 between the period just before Australia’s social-media minimum-age law took effect in December 2025 and June 2026. (Reuters)
Under Australia’s current rules, covered social-media platforms are required to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from having accounts. (eSafety Commissioner)
Meta says it is using AI and other signals to identify potentially underage users, including information contained in profiles and activity that may indicate someone’s age. It is also strengthening systems designed to prevent removed users from simply creating another account. (Reuters)
But Meta is also pushing a broader proposal: verify age once at the operating-system or app-store level and provide apps with a reliable age signal.
Meta argues this could create a more consistent system than requiring individual apps to independently determine a user’s age. (About Facebook)
WHY IT MATTERS
The debate is moving beyond whether children should face age restrictions online.
It is becoming a question of who should be responsible for enforcing them.
If age verification moves to the device or app-store level, companies such as Apple and Google could become more important gatekeepers in determining whether users meet age requirements before accessing certain apps.
Meta argues that verifying age once could also reduce the need for people to repeatedly provide age-related information to multiple services. (About Facebook)
But centralization creates its own questions about accuracy, privacy, accountability and what happens when an age determination is wrong.
It would also require regulatory changes before Meta could simply transfer its existing Australian legal responsibilities to Apple or Google.
WHO BENEFITS
Social-media companies could benefit from having a common age signal instead of building and maintaining separate verification systems.
Users and parents could potentially face fewer repeated age checks across different apps.
Regulators could gain a more standardized system if centralized age assurance proves reliable.
WHO LOSES
Apple and Google could inherit greater technical, financial and potentially regulatory responsibilities if governments adopt an app-store or operating-system model.
Social platforms remain exposed to enforcement risk under the current system if regulators determine their efforts are insufficient.
Users incorrectly classified by automated systems could face account restrictions or additional verification requirements.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Australia is becoming an important real-world test of how large-scale social-media age restrictions actually work.
Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap have all faced scrutiny over their compliance efforts, while Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has argued that early evidence indicates underage users are still finding ways onto restricted platforms. (Reuters)
The bigger question now extends beyond Australia:
Should every social platform figure out how old you are — or should your phone already know?
How governments, Apple, Google and major platforms answer that question could help determine how age verification works across the internet.
