Meta will exclude Australians under 16 from Facebook and Instagram from December 4, before the radical law banning teenagers from accessing social media comes into force.
“Starting today, Meta will notify Australian users aged between 13 and 15 that they will lose access to Instagram, Threads and Facebook”, the American group announced today in a press release.
“Meta will begin blocking new accounts of under-16s and revoking existing access from December 4th, and plans to eliminate all known accounts of under-16s by December 10th,” the statement said.
Teenagers will be able to access their accounts “exactly as they left them” when they reach the age of 16, Meta guaranteed.
From December 10th, Australia will oblige, through a law that will come into force on that day, social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, to remove users under the age of 16, otherwise they will be subject to heavy fines.
“We share the Australian government’s goal of creating safe and age-appropriate online experiences, but taking teens away from their friends and communities is not the solution,” the group argued.