Meta is urging Australian government to reconsider its world-first social media ban for under-16s . The company argues that the “blanket ban” strategy is already showing significant flaws. Following the removal of over 544,000 accounts across Instagram , Facebook , and Threads in the law’s first week of enforcement, the tech giant is warning that the move might be doing more harm than good.
Meta wants Australia to rethink its social media ban on teens
Meta’s main concern is that cutting off teenagers from mainstream platforms doesn’t stop them from going online. The move supposedly just drives them elsewhere. Since the ban took effect on December 10, 2025, there has been a noticeable migration of young users toward other platforms. The latter are smaller, less regulated, and fall outside the scope of the new law.
The social media firm describes this as a “whack-a-mole” effect. In other words, teens flock to alternative apps like Lemon8 or Yope the moment they are blocked from Instagram. Meta argues that these smaller services often lack the robust safety tools, reporting features, and moderation teams that larger platforms have spent years building. As output, they could expose minors to greater risks in “darker corners” of the internet.
A call for app store responsibility
Rather than banning specific apps, Meta is urging Australia to shift the burden of age verification to the app store level. Under this proposal, Apple and Google would be responsible for verifying a user’s age—and obtaining parental consent—before any app can even be downloaded.
Meta suggests this would create a consistent, industry-wide standard that applies to every app a teenager might try to use, not just a selected list of ten. The tech giant believes that incentivizing companies to raise their safety standards and provide “age-appropriate experiences” is a more effective long-term solution than total prohibition.
Youngsters allegedly resorting to VPNs, spoofing the AI, or adult accounts
Despite the massive deactivations, the ban has proven surprisingly easy for determined teens to bypass. Many are reportedly using VPNs to pretend they are in another country. Meanwhile, others have successfully tricked AI age-estimation tools using clever lighting or makeup to appear older.
Beyond the technical tricks, some teens have simply moved to accounts owned by their parents. This makes it even difficult for platforms to distinguish between adult and minor usage. The situation has fueled Meta’s argument that the current law lacks a clear, industry-wide standard for determining age online. Basically, it’s making “reasonable compliance” a moving target.
Given this situation, Meta Australia’s request to rethink the social media ban gains some weight.
What lies ahead?
The Australian government, which faces fines of up to $49.5 million AUD for non-compliant platforms, remains firm in its stance that the ban is about protecting youth mental health. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has characterized the move as a way to “let kids be kids” away from addictive algorithms.
However, as other nations like the UK and France consider similar legislation, Meta pushes for a more nuanced approach. They aim to focus on parental controls and app store oversight. Whether one approach is better than the other is likely to remain at the center of the global debate. For now, the “multi-layered process” of deactivating accounts continues.
