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Australia is considering whether to extend the groundbreaking social media ban for under 16 to include YouTube after saying that Google-owned video sharing websites are the place where children are most online harmed.
Australia passed the law late last year, aiming to prevent people under the age of 16 from joining social media platforms such as Instagram, X, Facebook and Snapchat. The law holds technology companies liable for enforcing age restrictions or facing substantial fines.
YouTube has been exempt from the ban. The ban hosts videos of performers such as the popular Australian Musical Act The Wiggles, based on their broad role in formal education and children’s entertainment.
Australian Esafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, who was accused of enforcing the ban, wrote to the government this month asking for the inclusion of YouTube after submitting a new study on the harmful effects of social media on children.
Speaking in Canberra on Tuesday, Inman Grant said YouTube is the platform most frequently cited in regulatory research, with nearly 40% of 2,600 children aged 10 to 16 years old, being surveyed in a survey where they encountered harmful content on the site.
She criticized the platform’s “down the rabbit hole where opaque algorithms (it drives them) users can’t compete against,” and raised concerns about reports that YouTube is cutting back on its online safety teams.
In a statement Tuesday, YouTube owner Google said the commissioner “ignored” what was called clear evidence from teachers and parents that the platform is suitable for younger users and should be exempt from the ban.
“Today’s position from the Esafety Commissioner represents contradictory and contradictory advice,” said Rachel Lord, senior manager of YouTube Australia, who argued that the reversal of the exemption was contrary to what the Australian government legislated last year.
The potential U-turn represents one of the first major tests of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s labor government, who reshuffled the cabinet after being re-election in a national poll in May.
A spokesman for Communications Minister Annika Wells, who was promoted as part of the change, said the government would consider the advice of the commissioner, but no decision was made.
Other countries around the world are closely watching Australia’s world-first efforts to restrict children’s access to social media and how they will be adopted to enforce the ban.
French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron vowed this month to ban people under the age of 15 from accessing social media if similar measures are not taken at the EU level.
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Inman Grant said the ban mechanism is still being resolved, but the study showed why action is necessary.
She said that child sexual terror online reached a “crisis rate,” and three-quarters of the study respondents encountered content that was misogynistic or violent and content that promoted dangerous challenges. She said “caustic language” has also become more common, such as encouragement for self-harm.
“I believe this will serve as a signal that all parents can take concrete action with their children, start chatting and remove the app and strengthen the government is helping them,” she said.
