YouTube Is Now Included in Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban

Last November, Australia’s parliament approved strict social media rules that would ban access to social media sites for those under the age of 16. YouTube was excluded from the initial list of properties covered by the ban, but Bloomberg reports that has changed.

YouTube was excluded after successful lobbying by Google, which argued its services were a key educational tool and children would need to be allowed to access them as long as they were part of a family account and supervised by parents. Meta argued that YouTube’s exclusion from the ban — which did include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, and X (formerly Twitter) — did not make sense since it offered a similar user experience that was cited by Australia to justify the ban to the other platforms: algorithmic recommendations, social interaction, and exposure to harmful content.

“YouTube’s exemption is at odds with the purported reasons for the law, and we call on the government to ensure equal application of the law across all social media services,” Meta argued in March. “Given YouTube is the most popular social media service among young Australians, its exclusion from the ban law is in direct contradiction to the government’s stated intent.”

TikTok called YouTube’s exclusion a “sweetheart deal”, and added that it was “irrational and indefensible” for it not to be included.

“While experts may debate the merits of restricting teens’ access to social media, now that Parliament has delivered its verdict, Australians deserve a system that works and industry deserves a level playing field,” TikTok said. “Handing one major social media platform a sweetheart deal of this nature — while subjecting every other platform in Australia to stringent compliance obligations — would be illogical, anti-competitive, and shortsighted.”

The pushback appears to have paid off, as Australia has changed its mind and will add YouTube to the ban. According to Engadget, the about-face came as a result of a government survey that revealed 37% of children surveyed had reported seeing “harmful content” on YouTube. Bloomberg reports that pressure to add YouTube to the ban had also risen since it was revealed that then-Communications Minister Michelle Rowland had made a personal pledge of exemption to YouTube’s leadership, adding to the speculation that a backroom deal had been struck.

While the mainline YouTube platform will be added to the ban, YouTube Kids will be spared — for now.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.