social media giant meta Taking a big step, it has deactivated more than 7 lakh Instagram and Facebook accounts in Australia. This entire action has been taken under the new age-restriction rules implemented in Australia, where the use of social media by children under 16 years of age has been banned. The company has informed that between December and June, it has removed about 4.62 lakh Instagram accounts and 2.94 lakh Facebook accounts from the platform. This action has been taken on those users who were suspected to be below 16 years of age.

According to a Reuters report, this figure is more than double the accounts deleted till January. Earlier, Meta had deactivated 3.31 lakh suspected underage Instagram and 1.73 lakh Facebook accounts.

Why was this strict law implemented?

In Australia, concern has been raised for a long time about the adverse effects of social media on the physical and mental health of children. Amidst all these worries A new law was implemented from December 10under which children under 16 years of age have been banned from creating new accounts on major social media platforms.

Although initially Meta had opposed this law, but now the company says that it is fully following the rules. On the other hand, Australia's Internet regulator is deeply investigating whether tech companies are taking adequate steps to prevent underage users.

Children's age is being detected by AI

Meta does not rely solely on the date of birth entered by the user to determine the exact age of children. company now Artificial Intelligence (AI) And using advanced technical tools. The AI ​​system closely analyzes the user's profile and their online activities.

If a user's profile contains photos of a birthday celebration, mentions school grades, or contains information reported by other users, the system considers the user suspicious. Not only this, the company is also imposing additional restrictions against underage users who try to create a new account again after their account is closed.

Preparation for huge fine worth crores

The Australian government is in no mood to relax the rules. Preparations are being made to impose heavy fines on those social media platforms who are negligent in implementing these rules. The government has increased the maximum fine amount to approximately 99 million Australian dollars Is seriously considering the proposal to do so.

Meta says that this cleanup campaign will continue and the number of accounts to be closed may increase further in the coming time. The company has also clarified that it supports the government's effort to provide children a safe and age-appropriate online environment.

Tech companies present in Parliament today

The stir regarding this matter has become more intense. In addition to Meta before the Australian parliamentary inquiry on Friday TikTok, Google and Snapchat Representatives of big companies like are also going to appear. The main objective of this investigation is to see how promptly these platforms are implementing the new age restrictions.

However, despite such strict rules and major actions, government data and independent studies have revealed that many children under the age of 16 were using social media in some way or the other even in the initial months. This makes it clear that keeping young users away from platforms remains a big challenge for tech companies even today.