YouTube spoke out against the Australian government's proposal to ban children under 16 from using social media on October 13, saying the move would have unwanted consequences.
Last year, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans to issue a landmark law, which would ban children under 16 from owning accounts on social media platforms by the end of 2025. Popular platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram will face heavy fines for violations.
Ms. Rachel Lord, YouTube's public policy representative in Australia and New Zealand, said that although the ban is good-lawful, it will not really make children safer.
According to Ms. Lord, this bill is both difficult to implement and does not really help protect children as the set goal. She affirmed: "Banning children online is not a solution to keep them safe."
YouTube, which was also hit by the ban, argued that it is not a social media platform and should be considered an exception.
YouTube has invested heavily in developing age-appropriate products as well as advanced content control tools, explains Lord. These tools help parents proactively choose and manage appropriate content for their children."
YouTube said the ban would be counterproductive. When children under 16 years old are banned from having accounts, they will access YouTube in an dang-a-long status. This will disable the built-in safety filters themselves, making it impossible to activate important security features such as turned off video playback automatically, holiday reminders, and blocking personalized ads.
The Australian government is one of the leading countries in global efforts to curb Internet harm, but the current bill provides little detail on how to implement the ban. Some experts are concerned that this law will be symbolic. Previously, other social media companies have also described the law as a "favorite".
