YouTube says it will comply with Australia's under-16s social media ban, with Lemon8 to also restrict access

"Google said it will begin signing out underage users from its platform from 10 December, but warned it would mean children and their parents would lose access to safety features. Google had strongly opposed YouTube's inclusion in the ban, after initially being exempted from the framework. Google had raised prospects of a legal challenge to the ban, but Wednesday's statement did not elaborate on that potential, and Google sources declined to comment."

"Rachel Lord, Google's senior manager for public policy in Australia, said in a blog post that users under 16s will still be able to watch YouTube videos in a signed-out state, but that children would lose access to features that only work when you are signed into an account, including subscriptions, playlists and likes, and default wellbeing settings such as Take a Break and Bedtime Reminders."

YouTube will comply with the federal under-16s social media ban and begin signing out underage users from 10 December. Google says the regulation misunderstands platform use by young people and warns it will not make teens safer online. Signing out under-16s will remove account-based features including subscriptions, playlists, likes, Take a Break and Bedtime Reminders, and will prevent parental supervision of teen accounts and content restrictions. Google had strongly opposed YouTube's inclusion and had signalled possible legal challenge. Communications minister Anika Wells said YouTube has a responsibility to keep the platform safe and described Google's warnings as outright weird. Lemon8 will restrict access to over-16s next week and is being monitored by the eSafety Commissioner.

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