Meta says it has taken down 756,000 Australian teen accounts as ban enforcement looms

The world's largest social media company has said it wants to comply with a law it and other platforms have vocally opposed, just as Australia's internet regulator considers an enforcement lawsuit against platforms, including some that Meta owns, that it says have failed to take sufficient steps to comply with the law.

No other platforms have released compliance data that matches the date range given by Meta, but Australian government figures and multiple independent studies have shown more than eight in 10 under-16s were still on social media in the ban's first three months.

The Australian government proposed the landmark law, which came into force on December 10, on concerns about social media's impact on the physical and mental health of children and young teens.

With other countries around the world considering similar age-restrictions, Australia has accused the platforms of intentionally setting the ban up to fail, and has introduced a law to double the maximum penalty for non-compliance to A$99 million ($69.75 million) and give the regulator greater document discovery powers.