Government adds YouTube to under-16s social media ban under new rules for implementing world-leading regime
But online gaming, messaging apps, and health and education services will continue to be exempted once the ban starts in December.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Government was 'on the side of families' with the restrictions.
'Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms so I'm calling time on it,' he said.
The rules, to be publicly released on Wednesday, define age-restricted social media accounts as services that allow users to interact and post material.
That will include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.
Companies that fail to take steps to prevent children from setting up accounts will face fines of up to $49.5 million.
People can use YouTube without being logged in to an account.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said the aim was to give kids 'a reprieve from the persuasive and pervasive pull of social media' and learn who they were before platforms and their algorithms started to assume or shape who they were.
'There is no one perfect solution when it comes to keeping young Australians safer online – but the social media minimum age will make a significantly positive difference to their wellbeing,' she said.
YouTube threatened over the weekend that it would sue the Government if it got added to the ban, saying it was a video-sharing platform, not a social media service.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant said in June there was a 'blurring' of platform types as tech companies added more functions and services to their offerings.
Research for the commissioner found
YouTube was the most frequently cited place
that children had come across harmful content online.
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