Meta’s teen ban is looming — here’s how you can download your content

Hundreds of thousands of Australian teens have just two weeks to download their data off Instagram, Facebook and Threads before they’re cut off from their accounts.

While Australia’s world-first social media ban does not come into effect until December 10, Meta has warned it will start axing the accounts of under 16s from December 4.

So how exactly can you download your content?

Here’s a step-by-step guide.

How can I download my Meta content?

To download content, head to your Meta accounts centre, which you can find in the settings menu of your Facebook, Instagram or Threads accounts.

Click “Your information and permissions”, “export your information” and “create export”.

From there, select which profile you’d like to export info from.

You can choose to export to your device or an external service, such as a cloud storage service, from there.

You can also select what content you want to export, the date range and what quality you’d like photos and videos to be (high, medium or low).

Additionally, you’ll need to enter an email address, where you’ll be notified once the export is ready.

Finally, you’ll need to select what format you’d like the download to be — HTML is the default, and allows you to easily view your data offline on your computer.

You can also choose JSON, which allows you to import data to another site or app.

From there, click “start export”.

Facebook will prepare a copy of your data and send a notification to your email when it’s ready to download.

What if I don’t have space to download content?

If you don’t have enough storage space on your device, downloading to an external service can help.

You can also make files smaller by choosing one type of information or downloading lower quality media, such as photos or videos.

What can be included in the download?

The download can include:

• Your activity: Depending on the platform, this can include any posts you’ve created or groups you belong to.
• Connections: Who you’ve connected with — plus how you’ve connected with them.
• Personal information: The info you provided when you set up your accounts/profiles.
• Security and login information: Technical information and logged activity related to your accounts.
• Ad information: Your interactions with ads and advertisers on the platforms.
• Preferences: Actions you took to customise your experience.
• Apps and websites: Apps you own and any activity gathered from apps/websites off the platforms.
• Logged information: Info Meta has logged about your activity, such as search history.

What does the export look like?

Once the information is ready, it will be sent to you via email.

The time it’ll take to send will vary depending on the volume of data you’ve selected.

The data will be in your chosen format (HTML or JSON) in a ZIP file.

To access the files on a Mac, you’ll need to double-click the file to automatically create a new folder with the contents.

On Windows, you’ll have to right-click and select “extract all” to specify a location.

Once the files are extracted, it’s up to you what you do with them.

What if I can’t download content?

If you’re struggling to export information, it may be because you’ve deactivated your profile.

Or it could be because you’ve scheduled a profile for deletion.

You’ll need to reactivate or cancel the deletion of these accounts to download the information.