{
  "id": 811339,
  "title": "756,000 Aussie teen accounts deactivated in 6 months, says Meta",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/13/756-000-aussie-teen-accounts-deactivated-in-6-months-says-meta",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-13T22:20:44.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2026/08/1510737/756000-aussie-teen-accounts-deactivated-6-months-says-meta"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has deactivated over 756,000 accounts belonging to Australian teens aged under 16 during the past six months, according to recent reports. The company announced this after implementing a world-first ban on teen accounts, aiming to comply with a landmark law proposed by the Australian government. The ban, which came into effect on December 10, targets the physical and mental health concerns associated with social media usage among children and young teens.\n\nSince the ban went live, Meta deactivated 462,000 suspect Instagram accounts and 294,000 suspect Facebook accounts, a significant increase from the 331,000 Instagram and 173,000 Facebook accounts removed by January alone. The company has been actively utilizing artificial intelligence to analyze user profiles for contextual clues, such as birthday celebrations or school grades, as well as reports about suspected underage accounts.\n\nDespite the implementation of photo-based age estimation software, Meta acknowledged that most large platforms initially relied on age inference or assumed a person's age based on their online activity. The Australian government has accused platforms of intentionally setting up the ban to fail, leading to the introduction of a law that doubles the maximum penalty for non-compliance to A$99 million and enhances the regulator's document discovery powers.\n\nThe world's largest social media company has pledged to continue taking action in response to potential regulatory intervention, with enforcement ongoing and numbers expected to grow. Representatives from Meta, TikTok, Google's YouTube, and Snapchat's Snapchat are scheduled to testify in a parliamentary inquiry about the changes, alongside regulatory and government officials.",
  "summary": "Your browser does not support the audio element.",
  "key_points": [
    "Meta deactivated 756,000 Australian teen accounts in 6 months",
    "World-first ban on teen accounts aims to protect mental health",
    "AI used to identify underage accounts based on contextual clues"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}