YouTube warns Australia social media ban will not keep children safe
The YouTube logo is seen outside the company's corporate headquarters in San Bruno, California, on Apr 23, 2025. (File photo: AFP/Josh Edelson)
SYDNEY: Australia's push to ban children from social media is "well intentioned" but will not make them safer online, video streaming giant YouTube warned on Monday (Oct 13).
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year unveiled landmark laws that will ban under-16s from social media by the end of 2025.
Popular platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram face heavy fines for flouting the laws.
YouTube, which will also fall under the ban, has argued that it is not a social media platform and should receive some kind of exception.
The firm's local spokeswoman Rachel Lord told a senate committee the ban was "well intentioned" but would risk "unintended consequences".
"The legislation will not only be extremely difficult to enforce, it also does not fulfil its promise of making kids safer online," she said on Monday.
"Well-crafted legislation can be an effective tool to build on industry efforts to keep children and teens safer online, but the solution to keeping kids safer online is not stopping them from being online."
Lord said the platform should be "out of scope of this legislation, because we are not a social media service".
Australia has been a leader in global efforts to prevent internet harm, but current legislation offers almost no details on how the ban will be enforced.
Some experts are concerned that the law will be merely symbolic.
Social media companies have previously described the laws as "vague", "problematic", and "rushed".
The eSafety Commissioner will be able to fine social media companies up to AUS$49.5 million (US$32 million) for failing to comply with the rules.
Last month, the government said social media giants will not be required to verify the ages of all users, but must take "reasonable steps" to detect and deactivate underage ones.
