Meta to restrict under 16s on Facebook, but critic calls it a ‘media stunt’

Thursday, 25 September 2025

Meta will implement restrictions on under 16s on Facebook and Messenger. But advocates say it won’t do enough.

Meta has announced it will implement restrictions on teen users of Messenger and Facebook in New Zealand, but some say it won’t fix the issue.

Starting from Thursday, Meta has expanded ‘teen accounts’ to all Facebook and Messenger users under 16 in New Zealand, and worldwide.

Meta, the technology company that controls platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said it would start placing teens into teen accounts as early as this week in New Zealand. This includes teens new to the app, and those already using Facebook and Messenger.

Meta has started implementing teen accounts from Thursday in New Zealand.

Teen accounts were first launched and rolled out for some Instagram users last year, and from April in New Zealand. It placed under 16s in private accounts with various restrictions on content, messaging and hours of usage.

Parents were also able to see who their teens have messaged in the past seven days, set daily time restrictions and see topics their children are looking at, among other protections.

Meta regional policy director Mia Garlick said it had placed “hundreds of millions” of teens into teen accounts, and that nine out of 10 remained there.

“Rather than locking teens out of platforms entirely, which can push them to more unregulated spaces where friends and family are not present, what we see is teen accounts are offering a balanced, effective, and enforceable solution,” she said.

However, critics have said the new restrictions won’t do anything to protect children online.

Restriction v ban

Anna Curzon, co-chairperson of B416 - a Kiwi organisation advocating for complete social media bans for under 16s, said the announcement from Meta was a “media stunt”.

B416 co-chairperson Anna Curzon says Meta’s announcement is a “media stunt”.

“The motivation for introducing these so-called teen accounts isn’t to keep kids safe, it’s coming from pressure from the growing global movement to restrict children’s access to social media.

“They’re very clearly worried about the impact that this is having on the products and the bottom line.”

She said Meta had not released data to show the restrictions worked, and the only way to protect children online was to put an age restriction on social media.

“My message to parents is you cannot rely on these new settings at all.”

The New Zealand Government has said it would consider a social media ban for under 16s, and has introduced a bill that would allow New Zealand courts to fine social media companies over aspects like verification. It has not yet been introduced to Parliament.

The Australian Government recently passed a social media ban, which introduced a mandatory minimum age of 16 for certain social media platforms. It will be implemented by December.

Garlick said Meta’s teen account scheme pre-dated a lot of discussions about ban legislation, and the “consensus view” was that the Australian legislation was rushed.

Kong Meng Liew wants to see concerning algorithms tackled first, but doubts social media companies would do so.

“There wasn’t really a conversation at the time that it was rushed through Parliament in less than a week, as to what industry was already doing.

“There's opportunity for New Zealand to continue to engage … look at what platforms are doing and perhaps create a more thoughtful approach.”

Kong Meng Liew, a psychology lecturer and researcher into social media culture, isn’t in favour of a ban, but believed the new restrictions are not enough to protect young people.

He said in terms of problems such as cyberbullying and predation, restrictions on things like messages could help - but not for mental health issues.

Nadia Maxwell’s account for a 13-year-old girl fed her eating disorder content she didn’t search for, or interact with.

“Addiction or the youth mental health crisis, or how what you see on social media affects your self esteem, I don’t think this would do anything.”

He wanted algorithms targeted first as they can feed someone continuously harmful content.

“My guess is that there will be pushback because algorithms are addictive. It’s what brings revenue to the company.”

Cheating the system

Last year Christchurch documentary maker Nadia Maxwell made an Instagram account pretending to be a 13-year-old girl.

Even after the teen account restrictions were put in place, she was fed a plethora of anorexia, eating disorder and weight loss content, despite not searching for it.

She said New Zealand should follow Australia’s lead in increasing the minimum social media age to 16, while safe online spaces were designed.

“I find it really frustrating that Meta are making another grand announcement … when the rollout on Instagram was proven not to protect 13-year-olds from distressing content.

“Not only was harmful content still served up to my 13-year-old account after teen restrictions came in, but when I tried reporting it, it wasn’t taken down.”

Meta said it could not evaluate Maxwell’s claims or whether the account was put under teen restrictions, as the details or data was not shared with it.

Garlick said if users tried to change their age before the implementation, the apps would make them provide verification. The user can do a biometric video scan of their face, or provide ID, which would be deleted afterwards for privacy.

Meta said it did not have any statistics on how many teens had parental controls implemented. It could not disclose how many young people were currently using Facebook and Messenger.