YouTube threatens to sue if roped into social media ban

Google has been warned threats to sue won’t sway the potential late inclusion of YouTube in Australia’s world-first social media ban for children.

The tech giant wrote to Communications Minister Anika Wells declaring it was considering its legal position if its video-sharing platform was included in the ban for children aged 16 and under.

The letter flagged the ban could be challenged because it restricted the implied constitutional right to freedom of political communication.

A world-leading social media ban for children is due to come into effect in December.Credit: Supplied

“YouTube is a video-sharing platform, not a social media service, that offers benefit and value to younger Australians,” a YouTube spokesperson said.

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“We have written directly to the government, urging them to uphold the integrity of the legislative process and protect the age-appropriate experiences and safeguards we provide for young Australians.”

The social media ban is due to come into effect in December.

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat were among platforms covered when legislation passed parliament.

YouTube was exempted in a move TikTok described as a “sweetheart deal”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took a dim view of Google’s attempt to muscle in on the decision-making process.

“The minister will make these assessments ... independent of any of these threats that are made by the social media companies,” he told ABC TV on Sunday morning.

“I say to them that social media has a social responsibility. 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.”

Labor previously flagged that YouTube would be exempt from the ban on the basis that the platform contained educational content.

Platforms such as TikTok and Snap, always subject to the proposed clampdown, immediately fought back against the proposed exemption.

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But after the election this year, the eSafety Commissioner released advice stating that YouTube was probably exposing children to a significant amount of material that hurt teen mental health.

This advice led to the government rethinking the carve-out, and government sources said it was likely the exemption would be reversed once the age verification scheme was in place.

Labor’s decision to make public YouTube’s threat before the platform itself has done so indicates its resolve in taking on the tech giants whose power has grown under the Trump administration.

The digital behemoths have gained Trump’s support for their campaigns against sovereign governments taxes and online regulations, for example in Europe and Canada, which they have described as non-tariff trade barriers, the kind of which Trump opposes.

The government has not yet released details about the age verification scheme that some experts believe will be unworkable. Labor sources said the government was likely to conduct a large-scale trial of age verification tools on social platforms.

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