YouTube on ban list as all states back teen social media crackdown

Children will be blocked from tech platforms ranging from Instagram to Facebook and TikTok under a national deal to limit the exemptions from a federal regime that seeks to ban social media for everyone under the age of 16.

The agreement throws state support behind the federal government’s bid to impose the restrictions on as many social media platforms as possible, as well as YouTube.

But the government will exempt platforms primarily used for education or health while taking up to a year to decide key details of the plan, including how to treat online gaming platforms that include chat features.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland want 16 to be the minimum age for social media use.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese emerged from a national cabinet meeting with state premiers and territory chief ministers on Friday to announce the agreement one day after he said he wanted 16 to be the minimum age for social media use.

“Social media is doing social harm to our young Australians and I am calling time on it,” he said.

“The safety and mental health of our young people has to be a priority and my government will do all that we can to protect our young Australians, but also to provide support for parents and teachers who are dealing with these issues.”

The Coalition backed the goal but called for more clarity about how the exemptions would work if tech giants such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, tried to create versions of their platforms that circumvented the rules.

“We don’t see how you can possibly exempt companies like Instagram or TikTok or Snapchat, no matter what they do,” Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman said.

“There’s more details to work through, but we definitely want to see action in this area.”

While Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff argued for an age limit of 14, he accepted the national cabinet consensus on 16 to ensure a single regime with broad support.

The government is yet to publish the draft law but said it would be put to parliament in the fortnight beginning November 18, with plans to take up to a year to finalise the details. Key features of the regime will be imposed by regulation, which means parliament could vote to strike down the rules if there was any dispute about the details.

Asked about the penalties on social media companies that signed up under-age customers, the government said they would be announced in due course.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland is also waiting for consultations with the tech companies, and the results from a technical trial, before deciding how to check the age of customers without breaching personal privacy.

Critics of the plan believe the likely measures to verify age, such as biometric scans, run the risk of amassing even more personal data in private systems that could be hacked.

Rowland said TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram would not be exempt from the rules.

“They’re in a range which is called age-restricted services as defined under the legislation,” she said.

“Just as alcohol is an age-restricted product, these are age-restricted services.

“We need to make sure that young people still have access to educational, to health needs, noting that a number of mental health services, for example, actually operate like platforms. So we want to make sure that young people can still access those.”

Rowland said the children’s version of YouTube, known as YouTube Kids, was a “probable candidate” for exemption but YouTube itself would fall into the category of an age-restricted service.

It would be up to the eSafety Commissioner, a federal agency, to decide the exemptions.

The federal move follows a proposal from Coleman earlier this year to block children under 16. The nation’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, called for a “porn passport” more than a year ago to shield children from X-rated sites, but the government initially preferred a voluntary code of conduct instead.

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