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YouTube Warns Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban Could Make Kids Less Safe

YouTube says Australia's new law banning under-16s from major social platforms, effective December 10, is rushed and may make kids less safe on YouTube. Accounts whose Google-linked age shows users are under 16 will be signed out and archived until they turn 16, but underage visitors can still browse without account features. Platforms face fines up to $32 million for non-compliance, and a legal challenge is already under way.

06:39 AM, 12/03/2025Technology
YouTube Warns Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban Could Make Kids Less Safe

YouTube has publicly criticised Australia's new law that will block users under 16 from major social media platforms, saying the measure is rushed and risks making young Australians less safe on the platform. The changes take effect on December 10 and apply to apps and sites including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

According to YouTube public policy manager Rachel Lord, the regulation "will not fulfil its promise to make kids safer online, and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube." She said parents and educators share these concerns and that the legislation misunderstands how young people use the service.

YouTube had initially been expected to be exempt to allow children continued access to educational content, but the government reversed that position in July, citing the need to shield young users from what it described as "predatory algorithms." Under the new rules, accounts whose linked Google profile shows a user is under 16 will be automatically signed out on December 10.

Predators, peer pressure and safety tools

Young people will still be able to visit YouTube without signing in, but they will lose access to a range of features designed to protect them, such as wellbeing settings and safety filters that help moderate what they see and how they interact. Lord argued the law is "rushed" and fails to account for the platform's existing safety mechanisms and how families use them.

"At YouTube, we believe in protecting kids in the digital world, not from the digital world," Rachel Lord said.

The company says it will archive accounts affected by the ban so they can be reactivated when a user turns 16, and that it will not delete existing content or data from those accounts.

The federal government has framed the law as a response to harms linked to social media, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese describing such platforms as drivers of peer pressure and anxiety, as well as channels for scammers and online predators. Officials acknowledge the policy will not be perfect at launch and that some underage users may initially slip through enforcement gaps.

Platforms that fail to take "reasonable steps" to comply face fines of up to $32 million. Meta has already begun deactivating accounts based on age data in some cases. The Digital Freedom Project has launched a legal challenge in Australia's High Court, arguing the laws amount to an unfair attack on free expression. Observers around the world are watching to see whether Australia's approach can be enforced and what consequences it will have for online safety and platform policy.

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