SYDNEY, Australia: The Australian government on Wednesday said it will include YouTube in its upcoming ban on social media access for teenagers under 16, reversing a previous decision to exempt the Alphabet-owned video platform.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the change, citing growing concern over the impact of online platforms on young Australians.
“I’m calling time on it,” Albanese said in a statement. “I want Australian parents to know that we have their backs.”
The decision follows a recommendation last month from the country’s internet regulator, which urged the government to overturn the YouTube carve-out.
The regulator cited a survey showing 37 percent of minors reported encountering harmful content on YouTube—the highest rate among major platforms.
The expanded ban, due to take effect in December, will prohibit users under 16 from creating accounts on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and now YouTube.
However, parents and teachers will still be allowed to show YouTube content to children in supervised settings.
YouTube has objected to the classification, insisting it is a video-sharing platform, not a social media network.
“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 spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Australia had initially excluded YouTube from the ban, partly due to its popularity among educators.
However, rival platforms criticised the exemption, arguing that YouTube shares key features with social media, such as algorithm-driven recommendations and user interaction.
Angela Falkenberg, president of the Australian Primary Principals Association, supported the broader ban, saying, “Teachers are always curators of any resource for appropriateness and will be judicious.”
Cybersecurity experts have also backed the move. Adam Marre, Chief Information Security Officer at Arctic Wolf, cited by Reuters, said the rise of artificial intelligence has worsened the spread of misinformation on platforms like YouTube.
“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 said as quoted by Reuters.
The policy shift could reignite tensions with Alphabet. In 2021, Google threatened to withdraw some of its services from Australia over a law requiring digital platforms to pay local news publishers.
While YouTube has not confirmed legal action in this case, Australian media outlets have reported that the company may challenge the inclusion in court.
Last week, YouTube said it had written to the government “to uphold the integrity of the legislative process.”
Communications Minister Anika Wells dismissed the threat of legal action. “I will not be intimidated by legal threats when this is a genuine fight for the well-being of Australian kids,” she told Parliament on Wednesday.
The legislation, passed in November, requires social media companies to take “reasonable steps” to prevent users under 16 from accessing their platforms, or face penalties of up to A$49.5 million.
The government is due to receive a report this month on the effectiveness of various age-verification tools, which will help determine how the law is enforced.
