YouTube to Comply with Australia's Under-16s Social Media Ban as Lemon8 Prepares Restrictions
YouTube will comply with Australia's under-16s social media ban by starting to sign out users under 16 from 10 December. This means underage users will lose features requiring sign-in such as subscriptions, playlists, likes, and certain wellbeing tools, although they can still watch videos as signed-out users. Parents will no longer be able to supervise their teen's YouTube account through content settings once the ban takes effect.
The Australian communications minister, Anika Wells, emphasized YouTube's responsibility to maintain a safe platform and categorized warnings about the law as "outright weird." Google has expressed concerns that the legislation may not make teens safer online and could face legal challenges.
The government has warned that other platforms might be added to the ban if under-16 users migrate to alternatives. Lemon8, a social app owned by ByteDance and currently not included in the ban, will restrict access to users over 16 starting 10 December. The eSafety Commissioner has been monitoring Lemon8 for possible inclusion and has reportedly written to the company regarding this evaluation.
Platforms that do not comply with the law face fines of up to $50 million. The eSafety Commissioner will request information from platforms on 11 December and will continue to collect monthly data thereafter.
