Australia Expands Social Media Ban to Include YouTube

Australia will ban children under 16 from creating accounts and uploading or interacting on major social media platforms, including YouTube, effective December 2025. The inclusion of YouTube reverses a prior exemption after new data showed that 37-40% of children reporting online harm identified YouTube as the source. Children under 16 will still be able to watch videos without accounts but cannot engage further. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube must enforce the ban or face fines up to A$50 million. The policy faces criticism from YouTube and content creators, who dispute its classification as social media and warn of audience loss, while experts and teens question the ban's enforceability and stress the importance of education alongside regulation. Australia joins countries like the UK and France in strengthening online age restrictions, amid ongoing debates about privacy and effectiveness.