Canberra, Australia – Authorities in Australia announced on Wednesday that they will pass a law prohibiting children under the age of sixteen from using the YouTube platform in order to protect them from “predatory algorithms”.
“There is a place for social media, but there is no place for predatory algorithms targeting children,” Communications Minister Annika Wells said in a statement.
In November 2024, the Australian Parliament passed a groundbreaking bill to regulate the internet, banning those under 16 from using social media sites such as TikTok, X, Facebook, and Instagram. The text of the law was supported at the time by representatives from both parties (government and opposition), but it did not include YouTube.
Meanwhile, the government announced that YouTube, which is widely used in school lessons, would not be affected by the ban.
Commenting on the Australian authorities’ decision on Wednesday, a YouTube spokesman said that the platform “is not a social network”, and added, “Our position is clear: YouTube is a video-sharing platform that includes a library of free, high-quality content, and it is increasingly watched on television”.
