World's first! Australia's social media ban takes effect, Meta and other platforms have banned 4.7 million underage accounts in a month.

Meta Platforms (META.US) and other major social media platforms banned 4.7 million underage accounts last month in Australia, as the country's social media ban for those under 16 officially took effect. The eSafety regulator said on Friday that based on preliminary data provided by operators, access to these accounts had been removed in the first half of December 2025. The law came into effect on December 10, 2025. This globally unprecedented crackdown action responds to growing concerns about online harm, and the number of banned accounts also reveals the scale of underage social media use among the population of 28 million. This week, Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said it had closed nearly 550,000 accounts to comply with the new law. eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said it is too early to determine if each platform is fully compliant, but the preliminary data is encouraging. The exact number of accounts banned by each platform was not disclosed. Grant said, "Effective age verification mechanisms may take time to be fully implemented. The long-term normative changes and positive effects on Australian children and families may take several years to fully materialize." Australian Social Media Law: Who is banned, who is accepted