Google slams Australia’s ‘rushed’ under‑16 social media ban, then agrees to obey it

For months, YouTube kept suggesting that Australia’s under-16s social media ban was a bad idea and hinting that a court challenge might be on the way. But now, the Google-owned company has said it will comply with the new regulation.

Anyone under the age of 16 in Australia will be automatically signed out of their YouTube accounts on December 10th when the law takes effect, Rachel Lord, public policy senior manager for Google and YouTube Australia, wrote in a blog post.

Users – both viewers and content creators – will only regain access to their accounts when they turn 16, Lord explained, after claiming that “this is a disappointing update to share.” Their content or data will be waiting for them when they’re allowed to come back.

“This rushed regulation misunderstands our platform and the way young Australians use it. Most importantly, this law will not fulfill its promise to make kids safer online, and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube,” said Lord.

Probably because YouTube doesn’t like the new law and presumably thinks Australian lawmakers can still be pressured to change their minds sometime in the future, Lord also threw in a reminder that underage users will be able to continue to watch YouTube while signed out.

This means that parents will lose the ability to supervise their teen or tween’s accounts because those only work when they’re signed in.

In the blog post, Lord said: “Parents will no longer be able to use any controls they have set up, such as choosing an appropriate content setting or blocking specific channels.”

“These are the unfortunate consequences of a rushed legislative process that failed to allow for adequate consultation and consideration of the real complexities of online safety regulation,” Lord added.

Australian teens are already outrunning the law and increasingly flocking to alternative social media platforms like Coverstar, Yope, and Lemon8.

The world-first legislation, which passed through Australia’s parliament in late 2024, aims to protect children from the harms of social media. Platforms such as YouTube, X, Facebook, Reddit, and Snapchat must block underage account holders from December 10th.

In mid-November, Meta also started notifying young Australians to download their digital histories and delete their accounts, ahead of the country’s sweeping social media ban for under-16s.

However, Australian teens are already outrunning the law and increasingly flocking to alternative social media platforms like Coverstar, Yope, and Lemon8. As teenagers find loopholes and app usage becomes increasingly fragmented, it could become increasingly difficult to enforce the ban at all.

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