With the ban on social media for teens under the age of 16 in full effect in Australia, despite the information that Messenger would not be banned, some accounts have been locked out.
Here is how I was able to reactivate my teen child’s account.
Why Did This Happen?
Anecdotally I had heard this happening to the teen children of some parents I know, whereas for others they could still access Messenger as per usual.
What I suspect has happened here is that Meta (Facebook’s, and Messenger’s, parent company) have swept up all accounts that were created via Facebook (whereby a Messenger account is then automatically created), but accounts that were created purely for Messenger (that’s right; you could always create just a Messenger account, without a Facebook account) were left alone.
A Quick Google search somewhat confirmed this:
I figured there should be a way to therefore reactivate the Messenger side of things as it didn’t make sense to me for my teen to be banned when apps like WhatsApp are exempt, when more or less doing the same job as Messenger.
Part of the role of Messenger for us is to be able to participate in things like a family group chat, as well as restore personal chats, so it was mildly important to get the Messenger account working again.
What we did to restore the Messenger account
First thing we did was use a browser that isn’t already logged in to Facebook or Messenger, as opposed to using the App (my assumption is the App may also work, but we used a web browser). Then we browsed to messenger.com.
Presented with a login form, we entered the applicable phone number and password.
After entering in this information, we were redirected to Facebook and prompted to enter in the user credentials again.
Once we did that, a message appeared telling us that as the account was held by a teen under the age of 16, they could not access Facebook. Beyond this message though, a button is shown to be able to “Continue with Messenger”. Similar to, but not necessarily the same as, the one below.
Clicking the Continue button, we were warned that account settings, those normally accessed via Facebook, would no longer be available unless accessed via Messenger. We continued down this path.
We were redirected to Messenger, and asked to log in again. Once we did, the Messenger chats appeared, and after being prompted for the PIN (commonly seen for encrypted accounts) access to Messenger was regained.
My teen child was then able to confirm access to the Messenger app on her phone, and all is right in the Meta world once more!
Hopefully if you (or your child) have found themselves in the same situation, this post has helped you out and if so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
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