Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption

SYDNEY – Australia said on July 30 that it will add YouTube to sites covered by its

world-first ban on social media for teenagers

, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the Alphabet-owned video-sharing site and potentially setting up a legal challenge.

The decision came after the internet regulator urged the government in June to overturn the YouTube carve-out, citing a survey that found 37 per cent of minors reported harmful content on the site, the worst showing for a social media platform.

“I’m calling time on it,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement highlighting that Australian children were being negatively affected by online platforms and reminding social media companies of their social responsibility.

“I want Australian parents to know that we have their backs.”

The decision broadens the ban due to take effect in December.

YouTube says it is used by nearly three-quarters of Australians aged 13 to 15, and it should not be classified as social media because its main activity is hosting videos.

“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,” a YouTube spokesperson said by e-mail.

Since the government said in 2024 that it would exempt YouTube owing to its popularity with teachers, platforms covered by the ban – such as Snapchat, TikTok and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram – have complained.

They say YouTube has key similarities to their products, including letting users interact and recommending content through an algorithm based on activity.

The ban outlaws YouTube accounts for those younger than 16, but parents and teachers are allowed to show videos on it to minors.

“Teachers are always curators of any resource for appropriateness (and) will be judicious,” said Ms Angela Falkenberg, president of the Australian Primary Principals Association, which supports the ban.

Artificial intelligence has supercharged the spread of misinformation on social media platforms such as YouTube, said Mr Adam Marre, chief information security officer at cyber-security firm Arctic Wolf.

“The Australian government’s move to regulate YouTube is an important step in pushing back against the unchecked power of big tech and protecting kids,” he added in an e-mail.

The reversal sets up a fresh dispute with Alphabet, which threatened to withdraw some Google services from Australia in 2021 to avoid a law forcing it to pay news outlets for content appearing in searches.

Last week, YouTube told Reuters that it had urged the government “to uphold the integrity of the legislative process”.

Australian media reported that YouTube threatened a court challenge, but the site did not confirm that.

“I will not be intimidated by legal threats when this is a genuine fight for the well-being of Australian kids,” Communications Minister Anika Wells told Parliament on July 30.

Social media companies will be fined up to A$49.5 million (S$41.4 million) from December if they break the law, which passed through Parliament in November 2024.

The law passed in November only requires “reasonable steps” by social media platforms to keep out Australians younger than 16, or face a fine of up to A$49.5 million.

The government, which is due to receive a report in July on tests of age-checking products, has said those results will influence enforcement of the ban. REUTERS