More than 500,000 Australian children have been kicked off Facebook and Instagram by Meta to comply with the country's social media ban for under-16s.

The social media giant says it removed 330,000 users from Instagram, 173,000 from Facebook and 39,000 from Threads between December 4 and 11.

Australia's ban came into effect on December 10, but Meta began removing underage users a week earlier.

The Albanese government is expected to release data showing how many young Australians were kicked off platforms affected by the ban this week.

The government is expected to release figures this week showing how many children have been kicked off social media. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

In an update overnight, Meta claimed the ban was not meeting the Australian government's objectives of increasing the safety and wellbeing of youths.

The US-based company cited concerns the ban had isolated vulnerable teens from support in online communities was driving them to less regulated apps.

It criticised "inconsistent" verification methods used to validate a user's age, and again chided the intention of the legislation.

"The premise of the law, which prevents under-16-year-olds from holding a social media account so they aren't exposed to an 'algorithmic experience', is false," Meta said in a blog post.

"Platforms that allow teens to still use them in a logged-out state still use algorithms to determine content the user may be interested in — albeit in a less personalised way that can be appropriately tailored to a person's age."

Meta urges government to chart 'better way forward'

Meta says while it will continue to comply with Australian law, it wants the federal government to engage with industry on a different way.

"We call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivising all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age-appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,"

it said.

The federal government passed the social media minimum age laws in 2024 in an attempt to protect youths from targeted algorithms and harmful content on social media platforms.

Social media companies face fines of up to $50 million if they do not take "reasonable steps" to restrict under-16s from holding an account.