Sydney (AFP) – Australia will use landmark social media laws to ban children under 16 from video-streaming site YouTube, a top minister said Wednesday stressing the need to shield them from “predatory algorithms”.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said four-in-ten Australian children had reported viewing harmful content on YouTube, one of the most visited websites in the world.
“We want kids to know who they are before platforms assume who they are,” Wells said in a statement.
“There’s a place for social media, but there’s not a place for predatory algorithms targeting children.”
Australia announced last year it was drafting laws that will ban children from social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram until they turn 16.
The government had previously indicated YouTube would be exempt, given its widespread use in classrooms.
“Young people under the age of 16 will not be able to have accounts on YouTube,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Wednesday.
"They will also not be able to have accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X among other platforms.
“We want Australian parents and families to know that we have got their back.”
Albanese said the age limit may not be implemented perfectly – much like existing restrictions on alcohol – but it was still the right thing to do.
A spokesman for YouTube said Wednesday’s announcement was a jarring U-turn from the government.
“Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens,” the company said in a statement.
“It’s not social media.”
On paper, the ban is one of the strictest in the world.
But the current legislation offers almost no details on how the rules will be enforced – prompting concern among experts that it will simply be a symbolic piece of unenforceable legislation.
It is due to come into effect on December 10.
Social media giants – which face fines of up to Aus$49.5 million (US$32 million) for failing to comply – have described the laws as “vague”, “problematic” and “rushed”.
TikTok has accused the government of ignoring mental health, online safety and youth experts who had opposed the ban.
Meta – owner of Facebook and Instagram – has warned that the ban could place “an onerous burden on parents and teens”.
The legislation has been closely monitored by other countries, with many weighing whether to implement similar bans.
Exactly. The only thing that I really have to add is that I personally draw the line between social media and other types of websites or internet services is whether the service is intended to be used anonymously or connected to a real identity. I’d further divide the anonymous stuff between whether they are intended to be used with handles or without an account at all.
Under that personal definition, I would not consider stuff like BBS, Usenet, forums, AIM, etc., to be social media.
I also wouldn’t consider Discord to be social media tbh, it’s a messaging application. If Discord is social media why isn’t iMessage?
Something like Twitter, BlueSky, or Mastadon could be social media depending on how you use them, but since many people do utilize them with accounts linked to their real identity I would consider them social media.
Then you have the obvious social media stuff like FaceBook, and LinkedIn.
Now that I’m typing this out, stuff like Insta, TikTok, Snap, etc., get weird. I would personally consider them social media, but tons of people use those apps with handles. Maybe in addition to the anonymous or real identity thing there’s also the consideration of whether the site or app is intended to connect you with people you know in meatspace or online.
Yeah, I guess the distinctions I personally use are becoming a bit meaningless now.
Yeah when musically/tiktok came along, twitter, insta, snap, and YouTube all copied the model so you’ve got this dual use thing going on there where you can scroll short videos, but you don’t have to
I also used to make a distinction for apps where the majority of content was rando internet user created. But all the apps are now just fulltime creators and very rarely does a true rando go viral.
The “going viral” technique got ruined similarly to how seo ruined search. Completely ruined to the point that the little guy never appears.