Meta, TikTok pan Australia ban as YouTube gets personal pass
META Platforms Inc., TikTok and Snap Inc. questioned the integrity of Australia's looming social media ban for under-16s after it emerged that Communications Minister Michelle Rowland made a personal pledge to YouTube's boss to exempt the platform before a consultation process on the carveout had begun.
In a Dec. 9 letter to YouTube Chief Executive Officer Neal Mohan — a copy of which was obtained under freedom-of-information laws — Rowland said she was writing to 'reaffirm the commitment' that the government would exclude YouTube from the ban. Her assurance came days after the legislation passed Australia's parliament, but weeks before Rowland's own department sought feedback on the proposed exemption.
The government's overarching effort is to protect young people from the harmful effects of social media and online content. Services like Meta's Instagram have been shown to have negative effects on mental health and TikTok's short videos are famously addictive. All these content providers have objected to the ban in the first instance, but have also questioned why Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube would be treated differently.
TikTok called on Rowland to explain why she promised YouTube 'a free pass, before any consultation, including with experts, had even begun.' Her letter 'raises serious questions about the integrity of the government's plan,' ByteDance Ltd.-owned TikTok said Tuesday.
It was clear in late November that YouTube would be excluded from Australia's social media crackdown. But Rowland's one-to-one communications with CEO Mohan has triggered fresh exasperation among YouTube's rivals that the most popular online platform among Australian kids has somehow escaped the tough new restrictions.
Rowland's letter shows she planned to meet Mohan on Dec. 13, a few days after she wrote to him.
'We are disappointed in the process, which has been marked by a lack of transparency and open discourse,' Facebook-owner Meta said in a statement Tuesday. YouTube's exemption 'simply doesn't make sense.'
Snapchat-owner Snap urged Rowland to reverse her position on YouTube. A Snap spokesperson said 'blanket assurances made to the CEO of YouTube that the company would be excluded raise some serious questions about the fairness of this process.'
In a statement, a spokesperson for Rowland said she decided to exempt YouTube in November 'and there has been zero reconsideration or communication to suggest otherwise — despite misleading attempts by TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook to imply that it was.'
The under-16s ban, due to come into force at the end of this year, gives Australia's government flexibility to change the list of companies that must comply. –BLOOMBERG
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