The number is 750,000. That is how many accounts of children under 16 were closed in one country.
Fact
The facts: by Meta's account, since it began complying with the Australian ban in December 2025, over 750,000 accounts on Facebook and Instagram had been removed by 30 June 2026, which the company understands to belong to people under 16. Age is judged through analysis of the profile, including photos, comments, descriptions and captions, plus reports from parents and the community and a follow-up review. There are measures against re-registration. The App Store rating was raised to 16+, and an education campaign on the subject reached 1.3 million people.
There is a second layer here. To decide you are under sixteen, the machine has to watch you: what you write, what you upload, how you speak. Enforcing a law that protects children runs through more surveillance of everyone.
Every age check is a check on everyone else too.
Australia is the testing ground and Europe is watching. Whatever works there we will see here, and by then the argument will already be about the details.
Official primary sources
Meta Newsroom - Meta's Compliance with Australia's Social Media BanThe visual is generated code-art, no third-party images.