The announcement by Meta that it would ban kids aged below 16 from its massively popular social media networks, Instagram and Facebook, is a pivotal moment in addressing Big Tech influence over the lives of teens, and an example of how whistleblowers and a determined government can force these multinational firms to act. The ban will begin from December 4 this year, ahead of the law taking full effect on December 10. With this law, Australia has led the path for restrictions aimed at weaning away children from the mental-health issues linked to social media addiction. The ban is coming at the end of a long saga of whistleblower disclosures, parent complaints, government rule changes and public pressure on platform practices. Both sides of the Australian political establishment united in making one of the most powerful technology companies on the planet comply. Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and Threads fervently opposed the legislation until late 2024. But it will now be deactivating the accounts it had long insisted it could not reliably identify.

A platform economy built on adolescent engagement faced whistleblower pressure

The lid on Meta’s stranglehold on teen engagement was blown in 2023 and 2024, when whistleblowers from inside major social media companies stepped forward to tell the truth. They publicly described sophisticated internal systems used by these companies to estimate user ages and track behaviour patterns. The revelations showed that many social...

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