Three of the world’s biggest social media platforms have launched a co-ordinated broadside on the Albanese government’s plans to exempt YouTube from a world-first ban on social media use by children.

TikTok, Meta and Snap say they strongly oppose any carve-out for YouTube from the laws, which ban children under 16 from using social media platforms. TikTok argued that exempting the Google-owned video platform would be “akin to banning the sale of soft drinks to minors but exempting Coca-Cola”.