{"id":64458,"date":"2025-11-22T18:08:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T18:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram"},"modified":"2025-11-22T19:00:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T19:00:50","slug":"meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram","title":{"rendered":"Meta to Remove Under-16 Australians from Facebook Instagram"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Australians younger than 16 will be removed from Facebook and Instagram on December 4, tech giant Meta said Thursday, as Canberra prepares to enforce sweeping laws banning teens from social media.<\/p>\n

From December 10, Australia will force social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, to remove users under the age of 16 or face hefty fines.<\/p>\n

Meta said that it would start removing teenagers from its platforms ahead of the ban coming into force.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom today, Meta will be notifying Australian users it understands to be aged 13-15 that they will lose access to Instagram, Threads and Facebook,\u201d Meta said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeta will begin blocking new under-16 accounts and revoking existing access from 4 December, expecting to remove all known under-16s by 10 December.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are around 350,000 Instagram users aged between 13-15 in Australia and around 150,000 Facebook accounts, according to government figures.<\/p>\n

Meta has started warning impacted users that they will soon be locked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon, you\u2019ll no longer be able to use Facebook and your profile won\u2019t be visible to you or others,\u201d reads a message sent to impacted users.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you turn 16, we\u2019ll let you know that you can start using Facebook again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teenagers will be able to access their accounts \u201cexactly as you left it\u201d once they turn 16, Meta told them.<\/p>\n

Hefty fines <\/b><\/p>\n

Accounts that were flagged by mistake could verify their age using a \u201cvideo selfie\u201d or by providing government-issued ID.<\/p>\n

Social media companies have previously described the laws as \u201cvague\u201d, \u201cproblematic\u201d and \u201crushed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meta again voiced its concerns on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe share the Australian Government\u2019s goal of creating safe, age-appropriate online experiences, but cutting teens off from their friends and communities isn\u2019t the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is keen interest in whether Australia\u2019s sweeping restrictions can work as regulators around the globe wrestle with the dangers of social media.<\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will introduce a similar bill to restrict children\u2019s social media use.<\/p>\n

And the Dutch government advised parents this year to forbid children under 15 from using social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat.<\/p>\n

Social media companies caught flouting the laws will face fines of up to Aus$49.5 million (US$32 million).<\/p>\n

On paper, the ban is one of the strictest in the world.<\/p>\n

But some experts are concerned that the law will be merely symbolic because of the difficulty in implementing and policing online age verification.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Australians younger than 16 will be removed from Facebook and Instagram on December 4, tech giant Meta said Thursday, as Canberra prepares to enforce sweeping laws banning teens from social media. From December 10, Australia will force social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, to remove users under the age of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-64458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nMeta to Remove Under-16 Australians from Facebook Instagram - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Australians younger than 16 will be removed from Facebook and Instagram on December 4, tech giant Meta said Thursday, as ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meta to Remove Under-16 Australians from Facebook Instagram\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Australians younger than 16 will be removed from Facebook and Instagram on December 4, tech giant Meta said Thursday, as ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-22T18:08:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-22T19:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763825363.137106.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"992\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Meta to Remove Under-16 Australians from Facebook Instagram\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-22T18:08:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-22T19:00:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram\"},\"wordCount\":418,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1763825363.137106.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/meta-to-remove-under-16-australians-from-facebook-instagram\",\"name\":\"Meta to Remove Under-16 Australians from Facebook Instagram - 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