MELBOURNE, Australia: Meta has begun notifying thousands of young Australians that they will soon lose access to Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, as the company moves to comply with a new national law that bars children under 16 from using major social media platforms.

The Australian government announced the sweeping age restriction two weeks ago, requiring Meta's services, including Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube, to take "reasonable steps" to block users under 16 starting December 10. On November 20, Meta became the first of the targeted technology firms to outline its compliance plan.

The company said it has started sending SMS and email alerts to young account holders, warning that from December 4, accounts believed to belong to under-16s will begin to lose access.

"We will start notifying impacted teens today to give them the opportunity to save their contacts and memories," Meta said in a statement.

The two-week window is intended to let young users download their data, remove content, or update contact information "so we can get in touch and help them regain access once they turn 16," the company added.

Meta estimates that 350,000 Australians aged 13 to 15 currently use Instagram, and another 150,000 in that age group are active on Facebook. Australia's total population is about 28 million.

Older teens who receive a notification in error will be able to verify their age through Yoti Age Verification, by submitting government-issued documents or a "video selfie," Meta said. But experts say such systems are far from perfect.

Terry Flew, co-director of Sydney University's Center for AI, Trust and Governance, told the ABC that facial-recognition tools have "a failure rate of at least 5 percent."

The government has warned platforms not to require every user to prove they are over 15, calling such a blanket demand unreasonable. Officials say companies already possess enough data on many accounts to identify underage users without mandating identity checks for everyone.

Platforms that fail to take reasonable steps could face penalties of up to A$50 million (US$32 million).

Meta's vice president and global head of safety, Antigone Davis, argued that age verification should occur at the app store or operating system level, not on individual apps.

"We believe a better approach is required: a standard, more accurate, and privacy-preserving system, such as OS/app store-level age verification," Davis said. Such a model, she added, combined with Meta's own age-assurance tools, "offers a more comprehensive protection for young people online."

Parent advocacy groups that pushed for the under-16 ban welcomed the move but said families need to prepare for its impact. Dany Elachi, founder of Heaps Up Alliance, urged parents to help their children rethink how they spend the hours currently spent on social media.

"There are aspects of the legislation that we're not entirely supportive of, but the principle that children under the age of 16 are better off in the real world, that's something we advocated for," he said.

Elachi also criticized the government for waiting until Nov. 5 to publish the full list of platforms subject to the age restriction.

"When everybody misses out, nobody misses out," he said. "We hope parents are going to be very positive about this and try to help their children see all the potential possibilities that are now open to them."