Australia said Wednesday that you will add YouTube to the sites covered by its first prohibition of the world on social networks for adolescents, reversing a previous decision to exempt the video exchange site owned by the alphabet and potentially establishing a legal challenge.
The decision occurred after the Internet regulator urged the government last month to cancel the dissemination of YouTube, citing a survey that found that 37% of minors reported harmful content on the site, the worst demonstration for a social media platform.
“I call Time about it,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a statement that stressed that Australian children were negatively affected by online platforms and remembering social networks their social responsibility.
“I want Australian parents to know we have their backs.”
The decision extends the prohibition that will enter into force in December. YouTube says that it is used by almost three quarters of Australians from 13 to 15 years, and should not be classified as social networks because its main activity is to host videos.
“Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video exchange platform with a library of free and high quality content, increasingly seen on television screens. They are not social networks,” said a YouTube spokesman by email.
Since the government said last year that it would exempt YouTube due to its popularity among teachers, platforms covered by the ban, such as Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat Snap.ny Tiktok, have complained.
They say that YouTube has key similarities with their products, including allowing users to interact and recommend content through an activity based on activity.
The prohibition of Outlaws YouTube represents those under 16, which allows parents and teachers to show videos to minors.
“Teachers are always curators of any resource for suitability (Y) will be judicious,” said Angela Falkenberg, president of the Australian Association of Principals, which supports the ban.
Artificial intelligence has supercharged the dissemination of erroneous information on social media platforms such as YouTube, said Adam Marre, director of Information Security of the Cybernetic firm Arctic Wolf.
“The Movement of the Australian government to regulate YouTube is an important step to delay power without control of the great technology and protect children,” he added in an email.
The reversion establishes a new dispute with Alphabet, which threatened to withdraw some Google services from Australia in 2021 to avoid a law that forces him to pay the media for the content that appears in searches.
Last week, YouTube told Reuters that he had written to the government urging to “defend the integrity of the legislative process.” Australian media said YouTube threatened a judicial challenge, but YouTube did not confirm it.
“I will not feel intimidated by legal threats when this is a genuine struggle for the well -being of Australian children,” communications minister Anika Wells said Wednesday.
The law approved in November only requires “reasonable steps” of social media platforms to keep Australians under 16 years away, or face a fine of up to $ 49.5 million.
The Government, which will receive a report this month on the evidence of age verification products, has said that these results will influence the application of the prohibition.
