Anthony Albanese hits back at Google threat

Anthony Albanese says the government will decide whether YouTube is captured under the under-16s social media ban “independent of any … threats” by tech giants.

Julie Inman Grant, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, addresses the National Press Club in Canberra in June. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Anthony Albanese says the government will decide whether or not YouTube is captured under the under-16s social media ban “independent of any … threats” by tech giants, after it was revealed Google had threatened to take the matter to the High Court.

Google sent a letter to Communications Minister Anika Wells warning it was “considering its legal position” if the Albanese government were to include video streaming platform YouTube in its under-16s social media ban, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The Prime Minister hit back, saying the government would “make assessments … independent of any of these threats that are made by the social media companies”.

“And I say to them that social media has a social responsibility,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program.

“There is no doubt that young people are being impacted adversely in their mental health by some of the engagement with social media. And that is why the government has acted.”

As it stands, YouTube will not be captured by the legislation due to take effect in December but the government is considering including it at the recommendation of the eSafety Commissioner.

When Labor first brought the legislation at the end of 2024, then communications minister Michelle Rowland said YouTube would be exempted and that it had a “significant purpose to ­enable young people to get the education and health support they need”.

But eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant last month told new Communications Minister Ms Wells that “given the known risk of harms on YouTube, the similarity of its functionality to other online ser­vices, and without sufficient evidence demonstrating YouTube predominantly provides beneficial experiences for children under 16, providing a specific carve-out for YouTube appears to be inconsistent with the purposes of the Act”.

The Coalition has asked for clarification on the policy.

Mr Albanese on Sunday said the government had not yet decided whether to add YouTube to the list of platforms to be hit under the under-16s social media ban.

“That decision will be made,” he said.

“When we introduced the legislation on a bipartisan basis last December, we gave one year for the process to engage with all of the social media providers, to engage with the community as well, for the eSafety Commissioner to look at the issues.

“The eSafety Commissioner has made clear her view. She’s got concerns about YouTube.

“She has found that up to four in 10 young people under the age of 16 who’ve engaged with YouTube have been harmed by that engagement. So her recommendation is very clear.”

YouTube spoke out against the recommendation, saying Ms Inman Grant’s advice “goes against the government’s commitment, its own research on community sentiment, independent research, and the view of key stakeholders in this debate”.

“It is a video-streaming platform with a library of free, high-quality content, and TV screens are increasingly the most popular place to watch,” YouTube public policy manager for Australia and New Zealand Rach­el Lord said.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that Google, in its letter to the government, raised the prospect of a potential High Court challenge on the grounds the ban would be an “impermissible fetter on the implied constitutional freedom of political communication”.