Australia to ban YouTube for under-16s in latest online safety push
by Henry Moore · LBCBy Henry Moore
YouTube will be added to a list of social media platforms banned for under-16s in Australia, reversing a previous decision to exempt the video-sharing site.
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Australia will ban under-16s from accessing social media apps, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and Snapchat from December 10 this year in a bid to protect children online.
Alphabet, the company that owns YouTube, has previously threatened legal action if the video platform was banned for under-16s.
Under the upcoming legislation, Australian children will still be able to access YouTube, but they won’t be allowed to make accounts.
The decision to limit access to YouTube comes after the Government received a report from Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, on how children interact with the platform.
The report claims four in ten children reported their most recent online harm came from YouTube, more than any other social media platform.
YouTube maintains its platform can be used to educate young people and provides value to its users in Australia.
An Alphabet statement read: “Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens. It’s not social media.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed threats of legal action over the ban.
He said: “I say to them that social media has a social responsibility.
“There is no doubt that young people are being impacted adversely in their mental health by some of the engagement with social media and that is why the government has acted.”