Google’s YouTube said it will comply with Australia’s social media ban for users aged under 16, as they will be locked out of their accounts starting Dec. 10.
The Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) unit said it is a “disappointing update” and noted that starting on Dec. 10, users under 16 years old will be automatically signed out from YouTube. This includes any supervised pre-teen and teen accounts.
When signed out, users will not have access to certain features, including: likes, subscriptions, private playlists, and memberships. If a user has a YouTube channel, the channel will no longer be visible to other users, and the user will not be able to access it, including: uploads, comments, and earning money on YouTube.
The company said users can download their data, but even if they don’t download their data and content, it will be available to the users again when they turn 16.
“But as we have consistently said, this rushed regulation misunderstands our platform and the way young Australians use it. Most importantly, this law will not fulfill its promise to make kids safer online, and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube,” said Rachel Lord, public policy senior manager, Google and YouTube Australia, in a blog post.
Google noted that parents will lose the ability to supervise their teen or tween’s account on YouTube, as these accounts only work when they are signed in.
Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age Act prohibits platforms from allowing under-16s to hold accounts, with fines up to A$49.5M ($32.5M) for breaches. Meta Platforms’ (META) Facebook and Instagram, ByteDance’s (BDNCE) TikTok, and Snap’s (SNAP) Snapchat previously said they would comply, Reuters reported.
Communications Minister Anika Wells, when asked by reporters about reports of lesser-known social media apps growing in popularity, said the tech industry was “dynamic” and the government’s list of affected platforms “will need to expand as different platforms receive migratory patterns,” the report added.
YouTube has 325,000 accounts held by Australian users aged 13 to 15, as per regulator the eSafety Commissioner, behind only Snapchat which has 440,000, and Instagram, which has 350,000 in that age range, the report noted.