{"id":105173,"date":"2025-12-03T04:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105173"},"modified":"2025-12-03T04:01:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T04:01:00","slug":"youtube-says-it-will-be-less-safe-for-kids-under-australias-social-media-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105173","title":{"rendered":"YouTube says it will be less safe for kids under Australia\u2019s social media ban"},"content":{"rendered":"
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YouTube says Australia\u2019s \u201crushed\u201d new laws to block teens from its platform will mean children will be less safe as its \u201crobust parental controls\u201d will be stripped away.<\/p>\n

Parents will \u201close their ability to supervise their teen or tween\u2019s account\u201d, such as content settings or blocking channels, from 10 December when a social media ban for under-16s starts. Children will still be able to view videos, but without an account.<\/p>\n

Communications Minister Anika Wells responded by saying it was \u201coutright weird\u201d that YouTube was highlighting the dangers of its platform for children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf YouTube is reminding us all that it is not safe \u2026 that\u2019s a problem that YouTube needs to fix,\u201d Wells said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The platform\u2019s statement comes as Australia\u2019s internet regulator sets her sights on two little-known apps that teens have flocked to in the lead-up to the country\u2019s social media ban.<\/p>\n

Lemon8, owned by the creators behind TikTok, and Yope are video and photo-sharing apps that have seen a rise in downloads recently, prompting the eSafety Commissioner to ask them to self-assess if they fall under the ban.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0government reversed an exemption for YouTube\u00a0from the ban in July, with the eSafety Commissioner saying it was \u201cthe most frequently cited platform\u201d where children aged 10 to 15 years saw \u201charmful content\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Wednesday, the video-sharing platform said it would comply but that the new law undermined more than a decade\u2019s work in building \u201crobust protections and parental controls that families rely on for a safer YouTube experience\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, this law will not fulfil its promise to make kids safer online, and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube,\u201d wrote Rachel Lord, public policy senior manager at Google and YouTube Australia, adding that parents and educators shared these concerns.<\/p>\n

She labelled the ban, which comes under the Social Media Minimum Age Act, as \u201crushed regulation that misunderstands our platform and the way young Australians use it\u201d.<\/p>\n

From 10 December, anyone under 16 will be automatically signed out of their YouTube account, meaning they cannot upload content or post comments. YouTube Kids is not part of the ban.<\/p>\n

In addition, default wellbeing settings such as reminders to take a break or go to bed will no longer be available to children as they only work for account holders.<\/p>\n

Ms Lord said the legislation had \u201cfailed to allow for adequate consultation and consideration of the real complexities of online safety regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

YouTube\u2019s parent company, Google, has reportedly considered launching a legal challenge to the platform\u2019s inclusion in the ban. It did not respond to a BBC request for comment.<\/p>\n

In a speech on Wednesday, exactly a week before the ban kicks in, Wells said teething problems were expected in the first few days and weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegulation, and cultural change, takes time. Takes patience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wells said Gen Alpha \u2013 anyone under 15 years \u2013 were connected to a \u201cdopamine drip\u201d from the moment they got a smartphone and social media accounts.<\/p>\n

Previous generations had dealt with bullying or potentially harmful content but it was limited, she said. New technology meant children today had \u201cconstant access\u201d with algorithms and notifications \u201cstealing their attention for hours every day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by the predatory algorithms\u00a0described by the man who created the feature\u00a0as behavioural cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tech companies will have to provide regular six-monthly reports on how many accounts they have for under-16s, she said.<\/p>\n

Under the ban, tech companies can be fined up to A$49.5m (US$33m, \u00a325m) if they don\u2019t comply with the age restrictions. They will need to deactivate existing accounts and prohibit any new accounts, as well as stopping any work arounds.<\/p>\n

The other platforms that fall under the ban are Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, Twitch, Threads, Reddit and Kick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"YouTubeYouTube says Australia’s “rushed” new laws to block teens from its platform will mean children will be less safe as its “robust parental controls” will be stripped away.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5745,1910,10,9,13283],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","category-international","category-politics","category-popular","category-youtube"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}