YouTube has publicly stated its disagreement with Australia’s new social media ban for children under 16.
According to BBC, it specifically argued that new laws to block teens from its platform will mean children will be less safe, as its comprehensive parental controls will be dismantled.
It would be impossible for parents to supervise their teen’s account-including setting content restrictions or blocking channels-after the social media ban for under-16s takes effect on December 10.
In this connection Communications Minister Anika Wells responded by saying that it was “outright weird” that YouTube was accentuating the threats of its platform for children.
Australia’s web governance is now setting its sights on two obscure applications that have seen a surge in popularity in the lead-up to the country’s social media ban.
The government rescinded an exemption for YouTube from the ban in July with the e-safety commission specifically saying that it was the most frequently cited platform where children aged 10 to 15 years watch noxious content.
However, the video-sharing platform said it would accede, but the new law subverted more than a decade’s work in building durable protections and parental controls that families mostly rely on for a safer YouTube experience.
On the contrary, Rachel Lord, public policy senior manager at Google and YouTube Australia said, “This law will not fulfil its promise to make kids safer online, and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube.”
According to the new rule, anyone under 16 will be automatically signed out of their YouTube account, meaning they cannot upload content or observe comments from December 10.
Further, the public policy senior manager at Google and YouTube Australia, Rachel lords said, "The legislation had failed to allow for adequate consultation and consideration of the real complexities of online safety regulation.”
As reported by BBC, it has been observed that former generations have dealt with potentially damaging content, but new technology meant children had content availability with algorithms and notifications captivating their attention for hours every day.
The tech companies will be reportedly fined up to A$49.5m (US$33m, £25m) if they defy the age restrictions in line with the new rule.
YouTube has approximately 325,000 accounts held by Australians aged 13 to 15, according to regulator the eSafety Commissioner, ranking third behind only Snapchat which has 440,000 and Instagram which has 350,000 in that age range respectively.
In addition, the other platforms that fall under the ban are Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, X, Twitch, Threads, Reddit and Kick.
