Meta Just Hit Pause on Teen Social Media in Australia

Meta isn’t flipping a kill switch on teen social media in Australia today—but the countdown has started.

Meta has begun notifying Australian teenagers that their Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts will soon be shut down, kicking off the country’s first major enforcement step toward a national under-16 social media restriction.

Over the past 24 hours, Australian users believed to be between 13 and 15 have reported receiving alerts inside Meta’s apps, along with emails and text messages advising them that their accounts will lose access in early December. The warnings are part of Meta’s effort to comply with Australia’s new minimum-age law, which requires social media platforms to prevent anyone under 16 from maintaining an account.

The law, passed earlier this year, places the burden entirely on the platforms rather than on children or parents. Companies that fail to comply face heavy penalties, including multimillion-dollar fines. The requirement comes into full force on December 10.

Inside Meta’s Shutdown Plan

Meta’s enforcement will roll out in stages rather than through an immediate blackout. Beginning December 4, the company will start blocking new under-16 sign-ups and begin deactivating existing accounts in waves. By December 10—the date the law becomes active—Meta expects its platforms to be fully inaccessible to under-16 Australian users.

Teenagers affected by the changes are being given two weeks to save their data. Within that window, they can download photos, videos, messages, and other account information before access is removed. Meta says it will retain that material so it can be restored once users turn 16 and pass the updated age-verification checks.

Those checks represent one of the most contentious parts of the rollout. The company will use a mix of government-ID verification and video-based age estimation provided by third-party firm Yoti. Meta argues that it is collecting only the minimum information necessary to confirm a user’s age, but privacy advocates have raised questions about biometric data, error rates, and how such systems might expand in the future.

A National Experiment With Global Implications

Although Meta is the first major platform to announce its enforcement timeline, the law applies broadly to other social media services operating in Australia, including TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, X, and several live-streaming and community-based platforms. All will be required to take “reasonable steps” to block under-16s by the December 10 deadline.

Australia’s move places it at the forefront of a global debate over youth safety online.

Governments in the United States and Europe have floated similar age-verification measures, but none have implemented a nationwide system as far-reaching as Australia’s. Regulators around the world will be watching how effectively the platforms can determine users’ ages, whether teenagers migrate to less-regulated corners of the internet, and how the public responds to a more heavily gated social media ecosystem.

For now, Meta’s warnings mark the first tangible sign that Australia’s online landscape is about to shift. Teens still have a few days of scrolling left—but for many, the logout screen is already coming into view.